The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
With a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation, Long Beach State forward Petar Majstorovic heaved a three with time ticking down but it was no good as the men’s basketball team lost to UC Santa Barbara, 74-71 Saturday night at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.
The final sprint to close out the game couldn’t overcome a slow start for the Beach as they lost their second straight game.
“First half we were running after them and we got tired,” Majstorovic said of the team’s slow start. “Second half – we started running. We started making them tired.”
The slow start plagued the Beach as UC Santa Barbara were the aggressors to start the game that led to them opening a 28-15 lead early on. The Gauchos’ Aidan Mahaney shot lights out in the first 20 minutes scoring 15 points while going a perfect 6-for-6 from the field.
The Beach (8-12, 4-5) wasn’t able to match UCSB’s energy but Isaiah Lewis had a team-high 10-points to give LBSU a lift as they went into the second half trailing 44-29.
That energy continued after the break as Majtorovic had back-to-back buckets that ended with him getting fouled and making both free throws. He wasn’t done there as he scored two more buckets to lead a 7-0 run as the Beach trailed UCSB, 51-41 with 13:48 remaining in regulation.
LBSU continued to get out in transition and after a UCSB three pushed the lead back to 13, Shaquil Bender drilled a three and the Beach went on a run again as Lewis scored a layup and Majstorovic hit a three to cut the deficit to 54-49.
“We saw what they did when we went on a 3-game winning streak,” Long Beach State coach Chris Acker said of the team’s second-half effort. “If we want to get back to winning game, what we have to do is we have to do more of that then how we played in the first half.”
With Majstorovic on the bench with four fouls, the Beach went cold for a couple minutes in the second part of the last half – but once he entered the game, LBSU went on another run.
Bender and Leo Levillain made a couple baskets and a three by Bender tied the game at 67-67. That would be the closest the Beach got to taking the lead as CJ Shaw made a shot to take a two-point lead.
Majstorovic scored 21 and had 7 rebounds, while Lewis and Bender added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
The Beach will look to get back in the win column when they travel to UC Riverside on Thursday, before returning to the Pyramid to take on league-leading Hawaii on Saturday.
