HONOLULU — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team rallied in the closing minutes, but Hawaii held on for a 73-65 win that snapped LBSU’s five-game winning streak on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Suiting up just 10 players because of a variety of ailments that sidelined Marcus Tsohonis, Jason Hart Jr., and Chayce Polynice, Long Beach (18-10 overall, 10-6 Big West) got a lift from AJ George who scored 18 points in his return to the starting lineup. Lassina Traore had 14 points and 14 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season, while Aboubacar Traore had 15 points and seven rebounds before fouling out late.
Feeding Lassina Traore inside early, LBSU and Hawaii (16-12, 8-8) played a tight game through most of the first half. Traore had 11 points and eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes to help Long Beach stay close to the Rainbow Warriors despite early foul trouble to Aboubacar and Jadon Jones. A scary moment in the closing minutes of the half took Lassina off of the court for LBSU and Hawaii capitalized, opening a nine-point lead before settling for a 40-33 advantage at halftime.
Hawaii started the second half on a 10-2 run, which ultimately proved to be the difference as the Warriors built a 15-point margin before Long Beach made its late push.
Long Beach shaved the margin to eight points with just under three minutes to play and appeared to have cut the lead to five with a potential three-point play, but it was wiped away by a charging call, the fifth foul for Aboubacar Traore. With the junior done for the night, Long Beach was unable to complete the comeback.
Justin McKoy had 26 points to pace Hawaii, shooting 10 for 14 from the field (4 for 7 from 3-point range) and grabbing six rebounds. Noel Coleman shot 3 for 6 from behind the arc on his way to 18 points.
Both teams shot 43% from the field, but Hawaii had a significant advantage from long range, going 10 for 28 from deep while Long Beach was 0 for 10.
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Long Beach State will host Cal State Fullerton on Thursday at 7 p.m.