Aboubacar Traore didn’t get another triple-double for Long Beach State on Friday night, but his steely nerves at the free-throw line down the stretch against UC Irvine were just as impressive.
A night after recording the first triple-double in Big West Tournament history, Traore went 8 for 8 from the line in the final three minutes to help fourth-seeded Long Beach hold on for an 83-79 semifinal victory over top-seeded UC Irvine in Henderson, Nevada.
LBSU (20-14) will face second-seeded UC Davis, which held off third-seeded Hawaii, 68-65, in the championship game on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with an automatic berth in the 68-team NCAA Tournament at stake. Long Beach and UC Davis split their two regular-season meetings, each winning on the road.
Traore had 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against the Anteaters, a night after posting 12 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in an 86-67 victory over fifth-seeded UC Riverside, just the second triple-double in program history.
A 63.7% free throw shooter this season, Traore finished 12 for 13 against UCI.
“These guys have worked to get where they are and they deserve to be in the game tomorrow,” said LBSU coach Dan Monson, who announced earlier this week that he will step down at the end of this season. “Being in it is one thing, winning it is another and we’re happy. We feel like we deserve it, but we’re not done. We didn’t come here to get to the championship game, we came here to go to the NCAA Tournament.”
Traore had plenty of help against the Anteaters (24-9), who beat Long Beach by double digits in both regular-season meetings.
Jadon Jones had 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Long Beach. Marcus Tsohonis also scored 15 points, AJ George pitched in 11 points and Lassina Traore finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Justin Hohn scored 19 points, Pierre Crockrell II had a season-high 18 points and nine assists and Devin Tillis and Bent Leuchten scored 10 points each for UCI, which will look back on its nine missed free throws in 19 trips to the line as a difference-maker.
“As favorites, for us to fall short, we’ll draw criticism and I feel like we should,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “We didn’t play our best game tonight. That sometimes happens. It wasn’t because we didn’t want it. It wasn’t because we were afraid or tight, I don’t think.”
Aboubacar Traore broke the final tie with two free throws with 1:05 left to give Long Beach a 77-75 lead.
AJ George blocked a jumper by Hohn on the other end and Lassina Traore grabbed an offensive rebound with 21 seconds remaining, leading to two more free throws by Tsohonis and a four-point lead.
Aboubacar Traore then held off the Anteaters by going 4 for 4 from the line in the final six seconds.
“We ran very few plays against them,” Monson said. “You run plays against them and they’re just going to shove them up your nose, so we gave our guys the opportunity to spread the court and make plays and they did.”
A 3-pointer by George with 7:53 left in the first half gave LBSU its biggest lead at 31-21.
UCI trimmed the deficit to two points on two occasions before Long Beach scored the final seven points of the opening half to take a 47-38 lead into the break.
The final points came on a length-of-the-floor pass from Jones to Amari Stroud for a dunk that was so close to the buzzer that it required a video review before the basket was confirmed.
“We didn’t defend like we normally do, especially in the first half,” Turner said. “We didn’t make our free throws, we didn’t get back in transition. We didn’t rebound well enough in this game to beat a Long Beach team that is dominant, at times, on the glass.”
UC Irvine scored the first six points of the second half to cut the lead to 47-44, and an 8-0 run by the Anteaters moved them back ahead at 63-62, their first lead since the opening minutes.
