LONG BEACH — The Long Beach State basketball team did the unexpected again on Saturday afternoon.
Long Beach took on the co-leader in the Big West Conference standings and played like the better team in its 85-76 victory over UC San Diego at the Walter Pyramid.
Long Beach (14-9 overall, 6-5 Big West) surged to an early lead against the Tritons (15-8, 9-2) and didn’t roll over when it fell behind by seven points early in the second half.
LBSU then sealed the win by going 6 for 6 from the free-throw line in the final 40 seconds.
“The good thing about this team is our ceiling is higher than anybody else’s in the league, and I keep telling them that,” Long Beach coach Dan Monson said. “The team that’s going to go to the NCAA Tournament is not the team that anybody has right now, it’s going to be who improves the most this last month, and I think we have the best opportunity to do that.”
The victory against UCSD ranks just as high as the nonconference wins against Michigan and USC.
The Tritons had won four in a row following their only setback in Big West play, a 76-65 loss at UC Irvine on Jan. 18.
Hitting the 80-point barrier seems to be the key for Long Beach, which is 10-1 this season when it scores at least 80 points.
“We ended up outscoring them, a very good scoring team,” Monson said of UCSD. “That’s what we did against Michigan, that’s what we did against USC, so we’ve done it in a lot of our big wins.”
Marcus Tsohonis, who missed LBSU’s overtime loss at Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night because of an illness, scored 18 points off the bench to pace the hosts.
Jalon Jones led four starters in double figures with 16 points. Aboubacar Traore had 14 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 2:07 left and Long Beach clinging to a four-point lead.
Lassina Traore contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
Monson was more delighted with the defensive effort by his team, even though it surrendered 76 points.
Long Beach finished with a 41-28 rebounding advantage, including 18-10 on the offensive end.
“We said they’re going to have to beat us from (3-point range),” Monson said. “We’re going to get into a zone, know where their shooters are and make them play outside in. Just make sure we rebound them when they miss them. They’ve got to make them all game to beat us and they almost did.”
The Tritons shot 12 for 29 from 3-point range compared to 8 for 16 for Long Beach.
UCSD took a two-point lead into the second half and stretched it to seven on two occasions before LBSU used a 7-0 run to tie the score at 46-46.
Tsohonis scored nine points during an 11-2 run, giving Long Beach a 62-52 with 9:17 remaining.
Long Beach missed the front end of back-to-back 1-and-1 free-throw situations, allowing the Tritons to go on an 8-0 run and pull back within two points with 7:15 left.
Jones followed with a 3-pointer from the baseline and then a layup off a fast break to extend the lead back to 67-60.
“Make or miss, my team does a good job of being positive with me,” Jones said.
The Tritons made another run to cut it to 71-70 with 3:38 left, but Aboubacar Traore scored on a drive and George hit a 3-pointer from the baseline to stretch the lead back to six.
Jones made another 3-pointer to give LBSU a 79-72 advantage with 1:51 remaining. UCSD’s leading scorer Bryce Pope then missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Long Beach sealed it at the line.
UCSD trailed for most of the first half, but a 3-pointer by Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones at the buzzer gave the Tritons a 36-34 lead at the break.
LBSU had bolted to a 13-2 lead on a four-point play by Jones.
An 8-0 run by the Tritons gave them their first lead at 19-18, but it lasted just 23 seconds as Aboubacar Traore grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a layup by Ian Silva for a 20-19 lead.
Long Beach would stretch the lead back to six points before UCSD outscored LBSU 10-2 over the final 3:03 to take the two-point lead into the half.
