Long Beach State closes strong to beat Montana State
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Trailing by 13 points on the road, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team locked down on defense and held Montana State scoreless over the final four minutes to earn a 75-69 victory on Sunday.
Long Beach (4-4) finished the game on a 16-0 run, securing the team’s third true road win in an eight-game stretch away from home to begin the season that included victories over Michigan and DePaul as well.
Staring at a 67-55 deficit, LBSU got two straight baskets from Marcus Tsohonis (26 points) to cut the margin to eight, then Robert Ford III scored what proved to be Montana State’s final basket of the game on a circus layup with 4:04 left.
Long Beach cranked up the defensive pressure down the stretch and the offense kept whittling away at the deficit. A three-point play from Tsohonis tied the score at 69-all with 1:48 left. Aboubacar Traore gave LBSU the lead with a free throw, then Jadon Jones was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to make it a four-point lead with 18 seconds left.
Montana State (3-3) missed a pair of 3-point attempts sandwiched around a pair of AJ George free throws from there as Long Beach closed out the win.
The Bobcats built their double-digit lead on the strength of their 3-point shooting, finishing the game 13 for 30 from behind the arc. Long Beach trailed by only four at halftime, but Tyler Patterson (20 points, seven rebounds) made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to extend the hosts’ lead.
Lassina Traore had 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting to go with 13 rebounds, while Tshohonis finished 11 for 17 from the field to go with five rebounds. Messiah Thompson made his first start for LBSU and had 10 points and three assists.
Brian Goracke added 19 points for Montana State, while Brandon Walker had 10 points and five rebounds and Ford had nine points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Long Beach struggled from long range (2 for 13) but took much better care of the ball – just four turnovers compared to 16 for MSU – which led to a 21-2 advantage in fast-break points. LBSU also outscored Montana State 42-24 in the paint and had a 13-point advantage at the free-throw line.
UP NEXTLong Beach, after eight games away, will finally play its home opener on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Sacramento State.
