The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
It was a roller coaster of a game for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team on Saturday against visiting Hawai’i, playing without injured star freshman guard Gavin Sykes. From a fast start and early lead to nearly erasing a 15-point second-half deficit, the challenge ultimately proved too tough in an 89-82 loss.
Hawai’i led by 15 with under nine minutes to play, but a 29-15 stretch brought LBSU within a point. The Beach even had a chance to tie it with under 14 seconds remaining but turned the ball over, before sending the Rainbow Warriors to the line multiple times where they sealed the game.
“I was just really proud of our effort tonight,” said LBSU coach Chris Acker after the game. “I thought we did a tremendous job of fighting and competing, and not making any excuses. We have to get a shot on the rim at the end of the game, so I kick myself in the butt for not putting us in a better situation for as hard as they battled for us to be in that game.”
Despite being without their top scorer for another game, the Beach looked comfortable on offense at home behind lights-out shooting from Shaquil Bender and Petar Majstorovic. The pair combined to start the game 7-for-7 from the field, while Bender opened 4-for-4 from the three-point line within the first five minutes.
Majstorovic also benefited from a handful of trips to the line, going 8-for-9 on the night, including a pair midway through the first half that gave the Beach their biggest lead of nine points. Majstorovic and Bender both finished with a team-high 22 points.
“It’s just the Beach,” Bender said of the hot start. “I love playing in this gym. I love playing here and I love the fans, so when I came out and hit my first one I just felt good.”
Hawai’i worked its way back with a 9-0 run immediately following the Beach’s biggest lead, and the teams found themselves knotted up on four different occasions in a tight end to the first half. A 6-0 run to close the half gave the Rainbow Warriors a 36-31 lead at the break, and they went on to keep that lead for the remainder of the game.
The Rainbow Warriors extended their advantage thanks to a fantastic second-half shooting performance. Led by Isaac Finlinson’s 4-for-5 mark from the three-point line, Hawai’i shot 66% from beyond the arc in the half and 64% from the field. That fueled Hawai’i’s biggest run of the game with a 10-point stretch five minutes into the half.
Despite Hawai’i’s strong shooting half, Acker still felt his team had defensive holes that allowed the Rainbow Warriors to run away with the lead.
“We made some mistakes for sure,” Acker said. “There were some mistakes made, but that’s college basketball. Everywhere in the country teams are going to make mistakes and it’s just about how you respond. Our margin of error is so slim, so when you dig yourself a 15-point hole and you’re constantly fighting to get back into the game, it’s really hard to do that.”
The Beach’s bench outscored Hawai’i’s bench 21-9, with several players providing solid contributions. Shay Johnson Jr. led the reserves with nine points, while Cole Farrell and Isaiah Lewis added nine apiece. Lewis also dished out a team-high six assists while Leopold Levillain grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
LBSU will look ahead to its next matchup at UC San Diego on Thursday before returning back to the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Feb. 12 to take on Cal State Fullerton.
