Major question marks loomed over Long Beach State coming into Thursday night’s matchup with UC Riverside as LBSU announced that they would mutually part ways with 17-year head coach Dan Monson at the end of the season.
The news came at an unusual time just ahead of the Big West tournament, besides the fact that The Beach ended the regular season on a five-game losing streak. Many wondered how The Beach would respond, but an 86-67 victory over UCR would answer those questions in one of the best all-around performances of the season.
Junior forward Aboubacar Traore’s triple-double marked the first one in LBSU program history in over three decades and has also become the first player to post a triple-double in Big West tournament history.
Traore packed the box score with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, doing his damage from the point-forward role and putting his fingerprints all over the big win.
Without making a field goal in the first half, he would act as the team’s main facilitator and led the team with six assists to go along with a team-high five rebounds in the half, proving worthy of the Big West Hustle Player award.
Second Team All-Big West frontcourt mate Lassina Traore came out of the gates aggressively, scoring LBSU’s first nine points within the first two minutes of the game
The big man would secure his fifteenth double-double of the season, scoring 21 points on 8-10 shooting from the field with 11 rebounds.
UCR would keep things tight throughout the first half. Neither team could find any rhythm in their offense as the half winded down, but both teams got into the bonus early and lived at the line, combining for 28 first-half attempts.
With the Highlanders up 42-41 in the final seconds of the half, senior guard Marcus Tsohonis would pull up and score a long-range three from 30 feet out to give The Beach a two-point advantage going into the break.
Tsohonis would pick up where he left off to open up the second half scoring five points in a 7-0 LBSU run. He would finish with 19 points of his own on 7-13 shooting, including 5-7 from deep.
UCR would have one more response left in them, going on an 8-0 run over their own to jump back in front 54-53. Tsohonis would pick up his fourth foul, sending him to the bench at the thirteen-minute mark.
Any hope for the Highlanders would vanish after an abysmal shooting display where they would go 8-33 from the field during the second half.
Sophomore guard AJ George would score 12 of his 21 points in the second half during UCR’s scoring drought to help open up their first double-digit lead that would grow to the eventual 19-point advantage LBSU would win by.
The 86-67 win sends Long Beach State to the semifinal stage of the bracket where they will face off against a familiar rival, No. 1 seed UC Irvine. The Anteaters swept the season series, winning by double-digits in each of their two matchups.
The Beach will look to keep their season and Big West title hopes alive on Friday at 6 p.m. in Henderson on ESPNU.