The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
Since being inserted into the starting lineup Long Beach State’s Rob Diaz has been facilitating, rebounding and defending opposing team’s top guards.
The one thing that was missing from his game was the junior’s shot-making ability – something he was known for before coming to Long Beach this season.
Diaz finally put it all together Saturday night as he celebrated his 22nd birthday. With 20 points, nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks – he filled the statsheet as Long Beach State defeated Cal State Bakersfield 81-75 Saturday night at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.
“It was a great feeling seeing it go in tonight,” Diaz said about getting his shot going. “But honestly, I’m always gonna trust my work, and I knew one of these nights, it was gonna fall.”
It was a performance Long Beach State coach Chris Acker had been waiting for after the Beach struggled to find playmakers outside of Petar Majstorovic and Gavin Sykes in their loss against UC Irvine two nights ago.
The Beach found guys to complement their top scorers as they had four athletes reach double figures as Diaz and Leo Vevillain (10 points) joined Majstorovic (23) and Sykes (22).
“We’re the team that it’s going to be a different guy every single night,” Acker said. ”We rely heavily on Petar and Gavin to score, but having other guys like Rob and Leo and Cole (Farrell) at times and different guys step up and make plays is gonna be the recipe for our success this year.”
Sykes continued his stellar freshman campaign as he scored the first five points and then Majstorovic hit a three to put LBSU up 8-2 early in the first half.
The Beach (6-11, 2-3) continued to extend the lead as Diaz converted a layup to make it 12-4. However, after shifting to a press the Roadrunners (8-10, 2-4) started to chip away at LBSU’s lead and eventually tied the game as Jaden Alexander led the way.
Mark Tom gave the visitors a 15-14 lead shortly after Majstorovic had to go to the bench with two fouls and 14 minutes remaining in the first half.
Sykes helped the Beach regain a 16-15 lead, but a familiar face in former Beach athlete AJ George responded to quickly give CSUB a 17-16 lead. The Roadrunners continued to take advantage of LBSU’s offensive struggles as they jumped out to a 26-18 lead.
But after a timeout, Majstorovic was inserted back into the lineup and with a basket by him and Levillain the Beach started to chip away at the lead. Majstorovic said it was great to see his teammates get going as LBSU looked to get back into the game.
“It’s just amazing to see everybody get a piece of the cake,” Majstorovic said of his teammates scoring.
After storming back to tie the game 30-30, Diaz scored to give LBSU the lead and they’d take a 42-36 lead at halftime. The Beach eventually extended the lead to 55-39 after the break before CSUB slowly started to chip away at the lead in part to Alexander who scored a game-high 29 points.
The Roadrunners eventually cut LBSU’s lead to 59-52 but Levillain provided a needed lift in the second half as he had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds – 8 of those points and 10 of those rebounds coming in the second half.
It was a nice homestand for the Beach who moved to 6-3 at home this season. They’ll look to continue that trend next Thursday when they host UC Riverside before going on a 2-game road trip.
