Thursday night was all about the offense as the Long Beach State men’s basketball team outran Pepperdine, winning 95-90, at The Walter Pyramid Thursday night. The victory marked a more-than-welcome homecoming for LBSU (5-5), who lost three consecutive games on their four-game road trip before defeating Maryland Baltimore-Maryland 57-53 on Sunday. It was the kind of night where everything was going in for LBSU, as they set season highs in points, field-goal percentage (56.9), three-pointers made (10) and free-throw percentage (76).
It didn’t hurt that they faced a porous Pepperdine defense that allowed an average of 84.9 ppg coming into the contest.
“We expect to be able to score some points, and it was good to see us make some shots,” said LBSU head coach Larry Reynolds. “Whether or not they were shots we could get against another team, that remains to be seen, but they were good shots.”
Sterling Byrd led the 49ers’ balanced offensive attack with a career-high 26 points. Aaron Nixon added 21 points and a career-high eight assists, while Kejuan Johnson scored 15 despite missing the last three games with a broken nose.
The 49ers broke the game wide open in the first half with a pair of 8-0 runs that extended their lead to 38-24, although Pepperdine (2-7) managed to cut the lead to 41-36 by halftime.
The pace became even more fast and furious in the second half as both teams pushed the ball down the floor and seemed to make shots at will. LBSU knocked down62.1 percent of its shots in the second half, while Pepperdine shot 53.3 percent.
LBSU bolted out to an 88-70 lead in the second half by unleashing an array of transition buckets and three-pointers. Nixon also finally found his shooting touch, dropping 19 points in the second half after shooting only 1-for-5 in the first half.
The Waves made a last-ditch effort to get back in the game on the strength of guard Marvin Lea, who torched the 49er defense for 34 points on 11-for-18 shooting, including 6-for-8 from behind the three-point arch. However, this last run was too little too late, as Pepperdine was unable to cut LBSU’s lead to single digits until less than a minute remained.
LBSU returns to The Pyramid Saturday night to face Sacramento State (5-5) in another contest expected to be a track meet. Sacramento State is averaging 78 ppg while allowing 78.2, and they beat LBSU last season 106-94.
