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A final tuneup before the start of Big West Conference play went well on Saturday at Walter Pyramid as Long Beach State men’s basketball easily beat Division II visitors Cal State Dominguez Hills 107-78.
The Beach (8-4) is on a five-game winning streak headed into the conference opener at Cal State Fullerton next Thursday.
“It’s a good way to go off and start (Big West) but we know we’re going to have to get better over the next week because we know what kind of game is in store for us at Fullerton,” LBSU coach Dan Monson said.
Jadon Jones scored a game-high 23 points while the Beach had 12 different scorers. Lassina Traore recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Marcus Tsohonis chipped in 12 points and Isa Silva guided the Beach to 50 percent shooting from the field (34-for-68) while scoring eight points and dishing out a team-high five assists.
“Offensively, we’re in a really good place right now,” Monson said. “We’re sharing the ball, we’re making simple plays for each other, our shooters are in good rhythm and our bigs are a presence in the post that stretch the defense for these shooters.”
LBSU has averaged over 80 points per game during its promising non-conference schedule that included quality wins at Michigan, DePaul and USC. The eight wins is the most the Beach has had going into Big West play since 1999.
On Saturday, Jones was the hot shooter early making his first three shots from 3-point range.
“As soon as he hit a couple guys were looking for him,” Monson said of Jones. “A lot of teams might think, ‘Oh he has his, now let me get mine.’ This team has a good unselfish attitude. They’re fun to watch.”
Dominguez Hills (9-1) stayed close by making six of its first 12 shots from behind the arc. The Dons have been ranked as high as No. 16 in Division II this season. Guard Jeremy Dent-Smith led them with 21 points.
LBSU came out of the 12-minute media break with a 11-0 run that opened the game up and the home team took a 62-42 lead into halftime. The Beach led by as many as 32 points in the second half.
The 11-0 run was sparked by guards Jones and Tsohonis who have both stepped up to be the go-to scorer at different times this season. Tsohonis is averaging a team-high 17.7 points per game, and was especially clutch in the win at Michigan. Jones stepped up when Tsohonis missed time due to injury while averaging 12.8 points with a team-high 25 made 3-pointers and 26 steals.
Jones gave his coaches and teammates credit for giving him what it takes to be the go-to guy, and agrees with Monson that depth has been the key to success.
“Truthfully, we don’t need an alpha dog because I don’t see why it just has to be one guy and that’s what makes us special,” Jones said. “We’re deep with 5-7 guys who can win you a game if they need to, so it’s just who’s hot on what day or who has a favorable matchup we can exploit.”
LBSU has eight players averaging over 16 minutes per game and 13 players got into the game. While players like Jeffrey Yan got a chance to score points the bench would explode in celebration. The Beach bench has been particularly energetic all season.
“That chemistry comes when you have a bench that is sacrificing and not pouting or having an attitude when they’re not playing,” Monson said. “Then they play so well with that attitude. They don’t just come in, ‘I’m going to get two shots up because I’m coming out.’ They’re coming there to win. That’s been the best thing for me, knowing that I can count on these guys to come in (off the bench) and make the right play.”
“We all like each other, which I think is really rare,” Jones added. “We all hang out, play video games and do stuff outside of basketball which has been really good for our organization. It’s just a genuine love for the game and a love for each other. Our mentality is us against everyone, and not just one person.”
Aboubacar Traore has also been fantastic for LBSU this season, filling the stat box with 10.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.9 steals and 2.0 blocks per game. He will need to stay healthy and out of foul trouble if the Beach wants to get off to a fast start in the Big West action, and the conference is formidable. UC Irvine also beat USC earlier this season, and Cal State Northridge beat UCLA on Saturday.
“The team that wins (Big West) will be the team that improves the most in the next month,” Monson said. “We’re planning on it being us but we’ve got to go put the work in.”
Fullerton (6-5) is a good challenge for LBSU to open with because the Titans are limiting opponents to 68.4 points per game. On offense, Max Jones leads them with 17 points per game.
The first Big West home game for the Beach is Saturday, Dec. 30 against Cal State Northridge. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
