The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach State Basketball is sponsored by CSULB Distinguished Alumnus Nelson Farris.
Bounce back Beach.
Long Beach State Men’s Basketball (2-9, 0-2) claimed just their third win of the season on Thursday night when they hosted Pepperdine (4-7) in the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid. While the home team didn’t get off to a fast start, they had a strong finish in a tight 81-78 win.
“Our guys haven’t played in about six days, and they were a little out of rhythm,” Head Coach Chris Acker said. “I’m just excited that our guys stayed even-keeled, which shows a lot of experience on their part. They never got rattled or upset. They just stayed the course and stayed in it together.”
The visitors got the game going with five unanswered points and continued to stay ahead with some quality plays all across the court.
Backward layups, alley oops and a slam dunk for the Waves were highlights from the first half until Pepperdine lost their lead with 6:13 left on the clock.
Long Beach junior guard Cole Farrell scored the equalizing points to even the game out 27-27 with less than ten minutes on the clock in the first half, forcing a timeout. Pepperdine responded with a three point by redshirt sophomore guard Aaron Clark to pull back ahead.
The teams continued to chip back and forth, leading to two timeouts being called in the last 30 seconds of the half. The visitors finished narrowly ahead 37-36 after Pepperdine sophomore forward Yonatan Levy scored the final basket.
But halftime awoke something in the home team. Long Beach State came out with some fight in them, going basket for basket and even pulling ahead to take their first lead of the game with 16:27 left.
“Throughout the course of the game, we made some mistakes, but we knew that if we came out in the second half and we just stayed the course, we were going to be able to come out there, show up and do what we did tonight,” Acker said.
The Beach’s energy was evident in their young talent. After scoring only four points in the first half, freshman guard Gavin Sykes came alive and finished the game with 23 as Long Beach’s leading scorer.
“You put the ball in the dude’s hand and he makes plays,” Acker said of Sykes. “For Gavin to do what he’s doing as a freshman is tremendous. He’s a special young man, first and foremost, and a tremendous talent.”
For Sykes, this game was a personal matter of business. Pepperdine was one of the schools that recruited the freshman guard for college ball.
“I had an extra little fire in me to really, really want to win this game no matter what,” Sykes said.
One of Sykes’ scores was followed by an electric slam dunk from Farrell to tie the game 40-40. Some more back and forth between the teams led to a bucket and a pair of made free throws from Sykes to give Long Beach that first lead 44-43.
Pepperdine quickly responded with a hookshot jumper by Danilo Dozic, but Sykes scored his third basket in a row, this time a three pointer, to keep the home team ahead 47-45.
Pepperdine sophomore guard Styles Phipps evened the score out with a basket, tying the game 47-47 before a timeout was called. The Beach came out of the break hot, draining one with 14:49 left in the half.
“Phipps was a monster tonight, and he kept them in the game the entire game,” Acker said. “Pepperdine has some really good players and some dynamic pieces that make it hard for you.”
Some of those challenges came from the constant push and pull for both teams. The back and forth plays were the theme of the game, as there were 17 lead changes throughout the 40 minutes.
“The message was about staying the course no matter what and figuring out how to win the competition,” Acker said.
The game stayed knotted at 47 for nearly the next two minutes as the teams went back and forth without a change. Despite the Beach’s nine turnovers, Pepperdine totaled up 18 throughout the game to help Long Beach gain some offensive momentum. Some of these turnovers filled the two minute scoreless gap before LBSU added another basket to their lead off a score by Sykes with 12:54 left.
“Pepperdine runs a lot of flex offense, which is hard and it’s methodical, and it can really drive you mad when you’re out there on the floor, because you’re guarding the same thing for 25 seconds,” Acker said. “But, we spent a lot of time this week really working on our discipline, and today, these guys were able to rake in gaps, make plays, get deflections and be really handsy, and it led to a lot of baskets.”
An electric alley oop and three put the Waves back up 53-51 to continue the consistent exchanging of baskets between the two teams. Timeouts and fouls were called, as Pepperdine and Long Beach stayed neck-and-neck down to the final minute with the home team up 79-78.
As Long Beach stalled in an effort to run the time out, last-minute turnovers gave Pepperdine some final chances. Pepperdine graduate forward/guard Javon Cooley collected a defensive rebound and found Phipps with ten seconds on the clock.
Trailing by one, the visiting sophomore guard made a drive to the basket but a huge block by Long Beach graduate guard Shaquil Bender stunted that momentum. A personal foul gave junior guard Rob Diaz III two shots from the line, which he drained to put the home team up 81-78.
“That was unbelievable on his part,” Acker said of Bender’s game-saving block. “We’ve been challenging him to really do a good job and play defense so he can stay out on the floor longer, because we know what he can do offensively. So, I hope that was something that really excites him about playing here and playing for something bigger than himself, and I think he did that tonight.”
In a close game like tonight, these close defensive plays make or break the outcome. Sophomore forward Petar Majstorovic, who finished with 20 points for the Beach, emphasized that a successful defense leads to successful offense.
“The last two games we won at home, it was two big defensive plays that changed the end of the game,” Majstorovic said. “We need to be more focused on defense and make those important plays – we’re working on it.”
Another important piece of Long Beach State’s success was their limited fouls on the Waves. While Pepperdine entered this game as a top 20 team in the nation from the line, the Beach limited the visitors to 10 free throws only.
“These guys are starting to understand positioning a lot more and how to guard a guy one-on-one without fouling,” Acker said. “For us to guard without fouling down the final stretch of that game says a lot about toughness. To me, what defines toughness is your ability to do things like that – not foul, not blow assignments. So we’re close, and we’re just going to keep getting better.”
Although Pepperdine got one final look to score, a missed three attempt sealed the deal and gave the Beach an 81-78 win. This win comes after Long Beach lost their last three contests, making their record 3-9 overall.
“I’m really happy for the guys and super thankful to the fans that came out and showed up,” Acker said. “I’m excited about where we’re headed.”
Acker said his team has slowly been steadily improving after a rough start to the year.
“Our team started off this year really struggling to get in games, we were always fighting back,” Acker said. “It’s really a credit to these guys for getting better. It’s just the evolution of our team.”
The Beach are back in action Sunday when they travel to take on Iowa State. They’ll close out 2025 in the Pyramid hosting Lincoln University on Dec. 30.
“These guys are all in, the coaches are all in,” Acker said of his program. “We’re motivated and energized to get up to Iowa State, compete, get back, play Lincoln and then start a conference run – that’s what we’re trying to get towards.”
