Home College BasketBall Long Beach State Takes Down UC San Diego With Ease

Long Beach State Takes Down UC San Diego With Ease

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Photo Credit:Marvin Jimenez

Long Beach, CA—Joel Murray scored 27 points, eight rebounds with six assists, as Long Beach State (16-10) extended its home win streak to seven games, beating UC San Diego (11-15) 103-87 on Thursday night.

Shooting has been an issue the last few games this season for the UC San Diego men’s basketball team.

The Tritons shot 47 percent and were over 50 percent from the court for much of the night. But they couldn’t contain Long Beach State at the other end of the hardwood.

UC San Diego totaled 57 second-half points, a season high for the team.

Playing at Big West-leading Long Beach State, the Tritons allowed Long Beach to shoot 57.1 percent from downtown in the loss.

Long Beach State (16-10) hit 16 threes, as the depleted Long Beach State team had no trouble making buckets to outscore UC San Diego in an offensive showcase.

The 16 treys were one off of the program’s single-game record, and the LBSU hit 100 points in a game for the second time this season.

Both teams in the first half was on fire, as the teams sprinted through the first 20 minutes to over 110 points combined, with UC San Diego leading going into halftime, 57-55. The Tritons hit 11 3-pointers in the first half to offset nearly 70% shooting from the Beach.

Photo Credit:Marvin Jimenez

LBSU in the second half made a few adjustments on offense, as Long Beach went on a 12-0 run and extended their lead to 18 points at 77-59 on a layup from Eddie Scott. Tobias Rotegaard 3-pointer gave Long Beach State their largest lead at 21 points with just under 11 minutes to play in the contest, and cruised to the victory.

Freshman Tobias Rotegaard made his first career start and shined offensively, going 5-for-6 from downtown and making five rebounds while grabbing five rebounds and finishing with a career-high 17 points.

Also for the Beach (16-10, 12-2 Big West Conference), Jadon Jones added 17 points and eight rebounds. Aboubacar Traore chipped in 16 points.

The Beach improve to 2-0 against the Tritons for the season. Long Beach State defeated UC San Diego 87-69 on Jan. 20.

The Tritons were led by forward Jake Kosakowski, who scored 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He made 8 of 14 3-point attempts.

Bryce Pope scored 15 points and Francis Nwaokorie added 11 points, but Tritons leading scorer Tony Rocak had just six points in 16 minutes. Jace Roquemore pumped in 10 points.

All five starters ended up in double-figures for LBSU, led by Murray with 27, but the bench had key games. Eddie Scott had seven points, AJ Neal finished with a career-high seven as well, and Jeffrey Yan had a career-high five rebounds while also picking up a key basket.

Next Up:

The Tritons are back at home Saturday when they host Cal State Fullerton on Senior Day. Game time is 1 p.m.

LBSU has away game against UC Irvine on Saturday at 9 p.m.