The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
With a completely revamped roster the Long Beach State men’s basketball team has been through numerous ebbs and flows early this season as they learn to win.
The Beach took another step forward Sunday afternoon as they put together a complete game as they defeated San Diego 76-72 at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.
All it took was a heads up play on a second-chance opportunity and a defensive stop to catapult the Beach to a victory.
Freshman Gavin Sykes wrote his name in the Long Beach State record books as he scored 30 points to help lift the Beach to victory. Sykes is the first true freshman in program history to reach 30 points since Lucious Harris completed the feat in 1990.
The biggest points for Sykes came with the Beach trailing 72-71 with 26 seconds left. LBSU drew up a lob from Petar Mastrorovic to Shay Johnson, but they didn’t connect and Sykes made a heads up play collapsing for the rebound to put it back up for a layup and was fouled to give LBSU a 74-72 lead.
“I’m actually taught to get back on a shot and this kind of just made sense for me to run in,” Sykes said about his game-winning layup. “I kind of saw two guys go to him and it just didn’t look like the ball was going to go in..my guy wasn’t in front of me. I seen the ball right in front of me – I just went and got it and they fouled me. That’s a routine layup that I practice.”
Following Sykes converting the 3-point play, Isaiah Lewis made a great defensive stop to get his fourth steal of the night and made two free throws at the end to ice the game for LBSU (2-6).
“It’s definitely great knowing that I can get up to the line and knock them down,” Lewis said of making both free throws to put LBSU up 76-72. “It felt great.”
San Diego (3-4) didn’t make it easy for the Beach as they went on a 13-2 lead in the first half to wipe away an early lead. The Toreros’ bench kept them in it as they outscored the Beach’s bench 27-9 to take a 38-34 lead at halftime.
Brendon Benjamin scored a team-high for SD, but the Beach continued to claw back in the second half and tied it at 38 early in the second half.
“I’m just excited that tonight they got to feel that it’s worth it, the energy that they’re putting into each other to get to know each other,” Long Beach State coach Chris Acker said. “So I’m excited for them, I’m excited for Long Beach State, and I’m just hoping that we can continue to move in this direction.”
The win comes at a good time for LBSU as they open Big West contest against UC Santa Barbara on Thursday before hosting defending Big West Champion UC San Diego on Saturday.
“We’ve been on the road before,” Acker said. “So we’re excited to, you know, get on the road and see what we’re made of and see if we can rectify what we’ve been, you, struggling at on the road. Now that we know that we can play in the second half.”
