After Thursday night’s second-half disaster against UCSD, The Beach was looking to get back into the win column against a UC Santa Barbara team that edged them out in two closely contested games last year.
Saturday evening’s contest had an extra layer of excitement being broadcasted on national television on ESPNU. For mid-major Long Beach State, national exposure isn’t always a regular occurrence, and it highlighted one of the premier rivalries in the conference.
Long Beach State traveled to the Thunderdome with their leading scorer senior guard Marcus Tsohonis unavailable for Saturday evening’s game. The Beach would have to look to their bench and additional starters to fill the void with Tsohonis averaging 17.6 points per game.
Head coach of The Beach Dan Monson would call upon senior Messiah Thompson to hold the starting point guard duties in replace of Tsohonis and would prove to be a pivotal piece to LBSU’s best three-point shooting game of the season.
Thompson would take charge of the offense early and came out of the gates strong, shooting with zero hesitation on his way to nine first-half points on 3-4 shooting from three. Junior guard Jadon Jones provided a spark off the bench when he checked in five minutes into the game and hit two quick threes.
At halftime, The Beach had already connected on seven three-pointers, just one shy of their season-high of eight that they drilled in Ann Arbor in their win against Michigan.
After controlling much of the first half, LBSU entered the second half with a five-point advantage leading 40-35. Just like Thursday night’s defeat, The Beach would come out of the break slow with the Gauchos going on a 7-1 run and UCSB reclaiming the lead.
There was a shift in momentum as it felt like the Gauchos were in control after that 7-1 run, being led by the reigning Big West Player of the Year Ajay Mitchell who finished with 26 points on 7-15 shooting.
Thompson stepped up in a major way as he helped LBSU outshoot UCSB from beyond the arc by scoring a season-high 23 points of his own, going 7-9 from deep.
The starting point guard also helped lead sequences and possessions with some great ball movement, as LBSU who came in averaging 14.7 assists was able to tally 23.
Coming off a week in which he took home Big West Player of the Week honors, junior forward Aboubacar Traore finished one rebound shy of a triple-double with 18 points, a career-high 10 assists and nine rebounds.
Defending the three-ball attack remained a struggle for The Beach as they allowed the Gauchos to shoot 50% from deep on 10-20 shooting.
After the teams were tied at 63, UCSB would go on to outscore The Beach 22-13 en route to their 85-76 victory over LBSU.
The decisive blow came in the last five minutes when a loud block by junior forward Ariel Bland propelled a UCSB fastbreak slam by sophomore forward Yohan Traore which electrified the fans of the Thunderdome, getting everyone on their feet, all amid a 12-2 Gaucho run.
UCSB extends their winning streak to three games and leaves both teams with a 3-3 conference record. LBSU falls to an 11-7 overall record with a couple of games back at The Walter Pyramid, starting with Hawai’i on Thursday evening as they look back to get in the win column.