By The sinking ship of the Long Beach State men’s basketball (7-22) 2024-2025 season reached further depths with an 88-87 loss in buzzer-beating fashion to the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (13-17) in overtime at the Walter Pyramid on Thursday night.
Having now lost their last three home games by a combined four points, The Beach’s latest outing in this losing skid occurred heartbreakingly, blowing a late second-half lead before the overtime buzzer-beater.
“With defeat and losing games comes a lot of critics and a lot of people that are going to have things to say,” LBSU head coach Chris Acker said.
CSUB junior guard Jemel Jones walks it off for the Roadrunners at the Walter Pyramid on Thursday night. Jones finished the game with 37 points and extended The Beach’s losing streak to 12. Photo credit: Mark Siquig
In a contest featuring the fourth and fifth leading scorers in the Big West, junior CSUB guard Jemel Jones and senior LBSU guard Devin Askew, it was Jones who came out on top in a big way, scoring 37 points and nailing the buzzer-beating midrange jumper to lead his team to victory.
“He [Jones] bounced up and made a big shot, so credit to him and their program,” Acker said.
The Roadrunners celebrate Jones’ game-winner on Thursday night at the Walter Pyramid. LBSU continues to struggle at home after losing another game in overtime, this time by a score of 88-87. Photo credit: Mark Siquig.
Junior LBSU guard TJ Wainwright was electric to begin the first half, scoring 11 of The Beach’s first 13 points.
Up 20-17 early, The Beach allowed a crucial offensive rebound to Jones, who delivered an ensuing tough-and-one layup that sparked a 5-7 Roadrunner run.
The bucket sparked Jones, who went scoreless through the first nine minutes of the half, but was suddenly back into his typical rhythm, ending with a blistering 21 points in the half.
“We’re a first-year team, and we can’t afford to make small mistakes early on in the game,” Wainwright said.
Jones put an end to LBSU’s early momentum with a flurry of demoralizing mid-range jumpers and second-chance layups to put CSUB up 40-33 at the half.
With Askew struggling early, Wainwright kept The Beach in the contest, scoring eight of their first 10 points in the period.
However, Askew came alive with a corner three and an easy layup off a steal to help give LBSU its first lead of the second half at 50-49.
LBSU senior guard Devin Askew drills a three-pointer and hits the 1,000-point career milestone. He finished the game with 19 points and eight assists in an overtime loss to CSUB. Photo credit: Mark Siquig.
Smelling blood in the water, Askew went on to lead an 18-5 LBSU run, scoring nine of LBSU’s 18 to take a 63-54 lead.
However, on the brink of sealing the streak-ending victory, The Beach’s offense cooled significantly, scoring just seven points over the next 9:14 of the game.
Tied at 70 with a minute remaining, Askew dribbled into a shot clock violation on a potential game-winning possession, sending the game to overtime.
“I saw a lane and I attacked the rim and tried to get fouled, but not every foul is going to be called, and the result was the result,” Askew said.
After a dismal end to the second half from both teams offensively, the overtime period saw a three-point barrage, with each team nailing three in the period.
Up 87-84 after a pair of made free throws by Askew, The Beach gave up yet another midrange jumper to Jones, cutting their lead to one.
On The Beach’s final possession, Wainwright had a rare miss from long distance before Jones managed to find just enough space to get up the dagger mid-range jumper to win it at the buzzer in shocking fashion.
In the loss, Wainwright led LBSU in scoring with 22 points on six-of-10 shooting from distance, and Askew finished with an inefficient 19 points on four-for-14 shooting with eight assists.
“The reality is when you’re on the second half of the conference [schedule], players have got to make plays, there really is no game plan necessarily,” Acker said.
The Beach will look to snap their growing losing streak on the road on March 1 against UC Irvine.
