HONOLULU — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team saw another comeback fall short and ended up on the wrong end of another narrow defeat.
Marcus Greene made two free throws for a four-point lead with 5.9 seconds left, and Hawaii held on to beat Long Beach, 62-60, on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center, sending LBSU to its ninth consecutive loss.
TJ Wainwright had 20 points (11 in the final seven minutes) to pace Long Beach (7-19 overall, 3-11 Big West), which is trying to avoid being left out of the eight-team field for next month’s Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nevada. Devin Askew added 16 points on 5-for-20 shooting and six rebounds, while Kam Martin had 11 points.
Ryan Rapp and Greene each scored 10 points to lead a balanced effort for Hawaii (14-11, 6-8 Big West Conference), which strengthened its spot in the standings. Harry Rouhliadeff had nine points and nine rebounds and Tanner Christensen contributed nine points and seven rebounds. Three other Warriors scored eight points apiece.
Long Beach forced 16 Hawaii turnovers but shot just 37.7% from the field (20 for 53) and was outrebounded 34-20 by the Warriors, who shot 52.5% (21 for 40) and avenged an eight-point loss to LBSU in early December at the Walter Pyramid.
Austin Johnson fell into foul trouble early and Long Beach had trouble getting its offense going after his exit. Hawaii led by seven in the first half, but Long Beach was within 29-24 at halftime.
Hawaii extended its lead to 12 points midway through the second half, but Wainwright and Askew tried to rally the visitors. The Warriors still led by 11 on Christensen dunk with 3:43 left, but Wainwright hit a 3-pointer and followed it up by drawing a foul call on another attempt from behind the arc. Wainwright made all three free throws to cut the margin to 57-52 with 2:41 left.
Another Wainwright 3-pointer trimmed the Warriors’ lead to 58-55 with 1:26 left, but Greene made a jumper off an offensive rebound for a five-point lead with 35 seconds left.
Hawaii missed a free throw with 19 seconds left, and Martin followed with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 60-58 with 11 seconds left. Long Beach double-teamed Rapp on the ensuing inbounds pass and poked the ball free, but Greene grabbed the loose ball and Long Beach was forced to foul him. Greene made his two free throws to secure the win.
Long Beach’s Derrick Michael Xzavierro added a meaningless jumper as time expired for the final margin.
UP NEXT
Long Beach State is off Saturday before returning to Big West play against UC Riverside next Thursday (Feb. 20) at 7 p.m. at UCR. Hawaii hosts UC Irvine on Saturday at 9 p.m. PT.
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