HENDERSON, Nev. — The Long Beach State basketball team is hardly the first group to come home from Nevada in a slump.
Playing without two of its normal starters, Long Beach got a breakout performance from freshman Kam Martin but San Jose State pulled away in the second half to hand LBSU its third loss in as many days on Wednesday night at the Ball Dawgs Classic, 82-66.
Long Beach (1-8) limps home from the desert with an eight-game losing streak in tow and will go into next week’s Big West Conference opener at Cal State Fullerton with only a season-opening victory over Division III La Verne to show for its November slate. Five of LBSU’s losses have been by 15 points or more, including margins of 23, 26, 30 and 43 points.
Long Beach State didn’t have the services of TJ Wainwright, Ramel Lloyd Jr. or Christian Richardson on Wednesday, which created an opportunity for others to step up in their absence. Martin stood out, finishing with 17 points and seven assists while playing all 40 minutes.
Forward Austin Johnson provided some paint points to get LBSU going inside in a tight first half that featured 11 ties and 11 lead changes. A transition 3-pointer from Varick Lewis and a 3-pointer from Martin gave Long Beach a 30-24 lead, but San Jose (4-5) pulled even and took a 38-36 halftime lead on a buzzer-beater from Donovan Yap.
Martin gave Long Beach one more lead at 43-42 with 17 minutes remaining, but the critical stretch came with just under 15 minutes left. San Jose led 46-45, when Yap hit a 3-pointer and a dead ball foul was called on Long Beach, keeping possession with the Spartans. Yap added another 3-pointer to complete a six-point trip down the court. After a stop, Yap added another 3-pointer for a 9-0 run in one minute of game action.
San Jose extended its lead to as much as 18 points and led by at least 13 the rest of the way.
Devin Askew added 14 points and three assists for Long Beach, shooting 3 for 13 from the field but 7 for 8 from the free-throw line. Johnson scored a season-high 11 points, Derrick Michael Xzavierro had six points and nine rebounds, and Cam Denson added six points, six rebounds and two steals.
Yap had a game-high 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting (3 for 6 from 3-point range) to lead the Spartans. Josh Uduje had 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while Robert Vaihola added 14 points (5-for-6 shooting), six rebounds and three blocked shots.
Both teams shot 6 for 18 from 3-point range, but the Spartans had 46 points in the paint and 19 second-chance points.
UP NEXT
Long Beach will play its first two conference games next week, traveling to rival Cal State Fullerton on Thursday night (Dec. 5) before hosting Hawai’i on Saturday, Dec. 7.
Originally Published: