By MALIBU, Calif – A new guy has stepped up for Long Beach State men’s basketball every night throughout its four-game win streak.
Thursday night in Malibu junior guard TJ Wainwright scored a season-high 26 points while coming off the bench in a 79-76 win over the Pepperdine Waves.
“I went into the game with kind of an edge today, probably more than usual. I try and keep it steady through all my games,” Wainwright said. “Games like this don’t really surprise me, the way we work, our guard play is super lethal.”
Wainwright was the main catalyst for The Beach’s offense after beginning the game 6-6 from three-point land. The trio of Wainwright, senior guard Devin Askew and freshman guard Kam Martin each scored 25 or more points in the last three games.
“Tonight was TJ’s night, so I couldn’t be more happy for him, and I am really happy our guys recognized that and found him when he was open,” head coach Chris Acker said.
LBSU’s backcourt has proven to be lethal, with Askew and Martin integral to The Beach’s execution down the stretch.
Both teams crossed one another’s paths riding three-game win streaks. The game was played at Firestone Fieldhouse, which was just one week after fires devastated the Malibu area.
“There were some tragedies up here in Malibu, so we felt very fortunate to be able to play the game tonight, I know there were people that lost homes and different things going on,” Acker said.
The Waves came out of the gates hot, starting 5-6 from the field to open up an early 11-5 lead.
Pepperdine’s offensive game plan was to feed the hot hand of senior forward Stefan Todorovic who led all scorers with a game-high 32 points, going 8-15 from the field and 12-14 from the free-throw line.
LBSU’s largest deficit was eight points early on, but Wainwright’s shooting brought them back into the contest with four of his six triples coming in the opening frame.
A 15-4 run propelled by an inside-outside scoring attack gave The Beach the lead for the remainder of the game, with a 45-36 advantage going into halftime.
The Waves continued to test The Beach, never quite going away despite multiple double-digit deficits.
Todorovic’s running mate, junior guard Moe Odum, gave the Waves a secondary scoring option as he posted 14 points and was a key factor as Pepperdine storms back into the game.
An empty possession by The Beach’s offense resulted in sophomore forward Derrick Michael Xzavierro fouling Todorovic, which sent the Pepperdine forward to the line and Todorovic made both free throws.
What was once an eleven-point lead was down to one, at 72-71.
With 40 seconds remaining, Askew wasted the majority of the shot clock before dishing to an open Martin in the corner for a clutch three-pointer as the shot clock expired and The Beach bench going crazy in celebration.
The three-ball put LBSU up 75-71 but Pepperdine replicated the sequence on the other end, this time with a deep 3-point shot by Todorovic to bring it back to a one-point game.
With 30 seconds to play, the Waves were forced to play the foul game to stop the clock. Askew was sent to the free throw line and shot a perfect 4-4 in the final seconds to seal the win, finishing with 18 points of his own.
Pepperdine had one last opportunity to tie the game with five seconds left, but without a timeout, they had to go the length of the floor and hoist a desperation three.
Odum got a shot off a few feet behind the arc but it failed to hit the rim as the buzzer sounded to end the hard-fought contest.
“Our team down the stretch, the exciting thing was, we remained poised,” Acker said. “We remained resilient, we executed what we practiced so it was huge.”
LBSU looks to extend their win streak on Sunday with Division II La Sierra scheduled to make the trip to the Walter Pyramid for a matinee clash with The Beach.
