By Long Beach State improved to 2-0 in conference play after a three-point barrage against Hawai’i, shooting 10-13 (77%) from deep on its way to a 76-68 win at the Walter Pyramid, its second straight victory.
Senior guard Devin Askew posted a career-high 28 points in the win, going 4-5 from distance along with a game-high seven assists.
“There’s never the absolute need to take over, but I definitely started feeling it,” Askew said. Being a basketball player and feeling it, I just kept rolling with it and making shots.”
Despite 27 turnovers from The Beach, they overcame their carelessness with the ball thanks to an efficient night shooting. They shot 50% from the field and had a near-perfect night from the free-throw line, going 16-17 (94%).
“Hawai’i turns teams over three times a game, for us to have 27 in one game is just uncharacteristic of what we want to be about,” LBSU head coach Chris Acker said.
Graduate forward Austin Johnson scored 14 points for Long Beach State in its home game against Hawai’i. The Beach won by a final score of 76-68 at the Walter Pyramid on Dec. 7. Photo Credit: Devin Malast
Hawai’i entered the game at 5-2 after a loss on Tuesday night against Grand Canyon University.
Neither team found a rhythm in the beginning of the first half with the Rainbow Warriors going scoreless for nearly five minutes in the middle of the half. The Beach could only tally a 6-0 run during that timespan, failing to capitalize and create much separation.
The Rainbow Warriors eventually found their offensive output with sophomore forward Akira Jacobs coming off the bench and catching fire. Jacobs shot 4-5 from the field, three of them came from behind the arc, and scored all of his 11 points within five minutes, a part of an 11-5 Hawai’i run.
Following a solid performance on the road at Cal State Fullerton, freshman guard Kam Martin picked up where he left off.
Martin scored all 10 of his points in the first half, from both inside the paint and outside the arc. Martin finished with a game-high plus-minus of +13.
Freshman guard Kam Martin goes up for a rebound, The Beach went with a smaller lineup for most of the game and got out-rebounded 32-23 because of that. Long Beach State edged out Hawai’i 76-68 in front of a rowdy home crowd at the Walter Pyramid on Dec. 7. Photo Credit: Devin Malast
A three-pointer by senior guard/forward Cam Denson capped off a 14-2 Beach run in the closing minutes of the half. Askew landed three on the final possession of the half as the shot clock expired to put LBSU up 37-32 at the break.
Acker went with primarily a seven-man rotation, with eight players seeing the floor in total.
That rotation consisted of a smaller lineup as the team leader in rebounds per game, sophomore forward Derrick Michael Xzavierro, saw just above 11 minutes on the floor. 7’1 junior center Christian Richardson did not play, the lack of height resulted in LBSU being out-rebounded 32-23.
The Beach were in full control of the second half, not surrendering the lead once.
Graduate forward Austin Johnson had his best showing in an LBSU uniform going for a season-high 14 points and a team-high 10 boards.
“Today is a byproduct of our team figuring out our identity. We are a much better shooting team when we’re playing inside out,” Acker said.
Back-to-back Askew threes brought LBSU’s lead to its largest of the day at 15 points, leading to a Hawai’i timeout. Rainbow Warriors’ assistant coach Rob Jones was visibly distraught following the defensive collapse and was seen on the bench spiking a chair into the ground.
The Beach went on to win by a score of 76-68 on the day of the Walter Pyramid’s 30th anniversary celebration with several alumni in attendance and President Jane Close Conoley sitting courtside.
LBSU looks to carry this momentum into its next matchup slated for Tuesday night in San Diego against the University of San Diego after improving to 3-5 overall this season with today’s win.
