LONG BEACH — Devin Askew’s college basketball journey has been long and somewhat bumpy. Long Beach State marks his fourth program in five years, each further out of the limelight than the one before.
But on Saturday afternoon inside the Walter Pyramid, the former Mater Dei High standout performed like the star point guard many envisioned, contributing 28 points, seven assists and seven steals to lead Long Beach to a 76-68 victory over Hawaii in a Big West Conference matchup.
“I was making shots and I kept going with it,” Askew said.
Askew shot 4 for 5 from 3-point range to help LBSU finish 10 for 13 as a team, and he went 6 for 7 at the free-throw line as Long Beach finished 16 for 17.
Askew, who also grabbed six rebounds, said he doesn’t remember if he’s had a better game statistically in college, which included his freshman year at Kentucky, where he started 20 games for the Wildcats, another season at Texas and the previous two at Cal, both of which were shortened by injuries.
“I just felt good out there playing and it just happened, you know,” Askew said of his performance. “Just super grateful and super joyful out there and whatever happens, happens.”
Long Beach (3-8 overall, 2-0 Big West) had plenty of other standout performances.
Austin Johnson, a 6-foot-10 senior center, had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double in four years and just the second of his college career.
“It just came down to earning my teammates trust and respect every day,” Johnson said. “They see me work on my post-ups and, day by day, just earning their respect. I’m just grateful that they continue to trust me every day, and trust me to make the right decisions when I get it.”
Kam Martin scored 10 of his 11 points in the first half, helping Long Beach to a 37-32 lead it never surrendered.
The win marked two in a row for Long Beach, which had lost eight straight before beating Cal State Fullerton, 73-56, in the Big West Conference opener for both teams on Thursday night at Fullerton.
“I’m really happy for our guys and how hard they’re working, more than anything else,” first-year Long Beach coach Chris Acker said. “Not just playing, but they’re working, they’re earning wins by putting in the work every single day and listening to coaches and responding to coaches.”
Last weekend in Henderson, Nevada, LBSU lost all three games in the Ball Dawgs Classic to UNC Greensboro, UTEP and San Jose State by a combined margin of 21.7 points.
In another sign of progress, San Jose State, which beat Long Beach, 82-66, had lost to Hawaii 80-69 earlier this season.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but I like where we are and I love how we’re progressing,” Acker said.
Both teams traded 11-0 runs during the opening 20 minutes.
Hawaii guard Marcus Greene, who finished with a team-high 17 points, went to the bench with his second foul 3:50 into the game and LBSU took a pair of early four-point leads before the Rainbow Warriors (5-3, 0-1) unleashed their 11-0 surge to move ahead 22-15 with 8:22 left in the first half.
Hawaii reserve forward Akira Jacobs, who played at Redondo High and Dymally High in Los Angeles, scored eight points during the run.
Jacobs hit his third 3-pointer of the first half to give Hawaii a 27-20 lead, but Long Beach followed with its 11-0 run to move ahead 31-27 with 2:25 remaining in the half.
Askew hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to beat the shot clock with six seconds left in the half and Long Beach took the 37-32 lead into the break.
“What we want to do is hang our hat on the defensive end,” said Acker, who came to LBSU after a stint as a San Diego State assistant. “We know if we defend, rebound and get to the point where we’re taking care of the ball, we’ll be hard to beat, but if we’re making 3s, we’ll be extremely hard to beat.”
LBSU looked to Johnson early in the second half and he took advantage of his matchup against 6-10 Hawaii center Tanner Christensen, scoring eight points in the first 6½ minutes to stretch the lead to seven on five occasions.
Askew stole an inbounds pass at midcourt and made a layup to give Long Beach its first double-digit lead at 54-43 with 11:51 remaining.
He later sank 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to stretch the margin to 69-54 with 4:26 left.
“I think we have a great group of guys,” Askew said. “There’s never the need to absolutely take over, but I definitely started feeling it.”
UP NEXT
Long Beach will resume nonconference play for the rest of December, starting with a trip to San Diego to face the Toreros on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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