The historic rivalry between Long Beach State University (8-9,4-1) and the UC Irvine Anteaters (6-7,1-3) culminated in a 73-67 victory for Long Beach as both teams clashed at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif. on Jan. 22.
The first half was a defensive battle that found Long Beach ahead by one point, 30-29, at the break.
Junior forward Austin Johnson led the Anteaters in scoring 10 points at the end of the first half. His presence was made known early in the game as he followed up a missed jumper by redshirt junior forward JC Butler, giving UCI an early 2-0 advantage.
The first half also had redshirt senior forward Collin Welp add eight points for the Anteaters.
Meanwhile, Long Beach State was led by junior guard Joel Murray who made four of seven attempted shots, had 14 points and made all four free-throw shots attempted. The first two of Murray’s free-throws came 40 seconds into the game to tie at 2-2.
Freshman forward Aboubacar Traore added five points and a couple of blocks in the first half. Traore showed glimpses of his natural talent as he assisted senior forward Jordan Roberts with a no-look pass to give Long Beach State the lead, 4-2.
Long Beach State continued to intensify the defensive pressure on the Anteaters in the second half.
Welp was a force for the Anteaters and ended the second half with 20 points, 11 rebounds and a steal within 29 minutes of action.
Redshirt sophomore guard Justin Hohn scored a season-high of 13 points for the Anteaters, had four rebounds and three assists.
Johnson, who scored 10 points in the first half for UCI, only played 16 minutes and was scoreless in the second half.
Murray continued his dominance for Long Beach State — eating away at the UCI defense — by scoring 24 points and adding four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Murray facilitated the Long Beach State offense nicely, finding senior guard
Colin Slater for a wide-open three-pointer with 2:34 left in the game to give them a 64-62 lead. Slater finished the game with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and a block.
Long Beach State’s young star Aboubacar Traore also had an impressive showing with 19 points, seven assists, four blocks and a steal.
Free throws were a significant factor in the game as UC Irvine was 15-19, or 78.9%, and Long Beach State was 25-30, or 83.3%, from the charity stripe. Following a foul by Welp, Slater connected on two free throws to end the game. This gave Long Beach State their fourth straight win, 73-67.
UC Irvine snapped out of their three-game losing streak as they hosted CSU Bakersfield at the Bren Events Center on Thursday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., with the score of 57-52 ultimately being in favor of UCI. Live stats can be accessed here.
Marcos Gonzalez is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at marcosg9@uci.edu.
