By In its 80th matchup in school history against Fresno State, Long Beach State men’s basketball was in control until a 14-0 final run from the Bulldogs’ turned the tide in Saturday’s 72-69 loss at the Walter Pyramid.
LBSU’s momentum changed in the final three minutes when Fresno State broke out in a full-court press to pressure The Beach’s offense, who had a 69-58 lead with 2:48 left.
The Bulldogs’ full-court press paid off, forcing four turnovers in that span. They scored 14 unanswered points to give The Beach their fifth straight loss.
“We just got to be better. We got to figure out how to win close games. We’ve lost three now that have been very close, but I felt that we had an opportunity to win, and we just let it slip away,” LBSU head coach Chris Acker said.
The Beach got off to a strong 12-3 start, making five of their first eight attempts with multiple threes coming from their top scorers: senior guard Devin Askew and junior guard TJ Wainwright.
LBSU junior guard TJ Wainwright shoots a three-pointer. He finished the game with three three-pointers. LBSU scored a total of 12 three-pointers against Fresno State. Photo by Mark Siquig
The Beach continued their surge, taking their biggest lead (17) at the seven-minute mark of the first half after outscoring the Bulldogs 19 to 11 to go up 31-14.
Despite shooting one of 13 from three and making five of their 29 attempts in the first half, the Bulldogs slowly climbed back from 16 fouls committed by The Beach. Fresno State scored 17 of their 28 first-half points at the free throw line to make it a 39-28 halftime score.
Fresno State capitalized on LBSU’s 13 second-half turnovers and shot 44 free throws, making 30 and scoring 20 points off of The Beach’s 19 total turnovers.
LBSU only had four attempts (three made) at the free-throw line while fouling Fresno State 26 times.
With two of their top three scorers out with injuries, Fresno State’s comeback was fueled by junior guard Amar Augillard, who finished with a game-high 25 points on eight-for-21 shooting.
Askew explained that The Beach are still learning to build chemistry with a new roster and coaching staff, emphasizing that these experiences will pay off in the long run.
LBSU senior guard Devin Askew led the team in scoring with 19 points. Askew also made three three-pointers in the loss versus Fresno State. Photo by Mark Siquig.
“The more games we play, and the more experiences we have, like tonight, we’ll get better in them, and we’ll end up sealing the game and doing better things and the outcome will be in our favor,” Askew said. “This is all a learning process.”
Acker explained that the team’s attention span is currently two seconds behind in moments, attributing this to many of the new transfers and freshmen not having played last year. He said that the coaching staff will continue to go over those moments with them and apply them to practices.
LBSU heads to the Ball Dawgs Classic in Henderson, Nevada during the fall break. They will face three mid-major opponents in three days against UNC Greensboro on Nov. 25 (8 p.m.), UTEP on Nov. 26 (5:30 p.m.) and San Jose State on Nov. 27 (8 p.m.).
