Freshman Gavin Sykes Scores Career-High 34 as Long Beach State Beats CSUN 87-80

Freshman guard Gavin Sykes already ranks among the country's top young scorers, and on Saturday night he set a new personal best. Sykes put up a career-high 34 points to lead Long Beach State to an 87-80 road win over Cal State Northridge at the Matadome.

Sykes made 8 of 18 shots from the floor, including 3 of 9 from 3-point range, and missed only one of his 16 free throws. Twenty-four of his points came after halftime. The result was Long Beach's third consecutive victory and the first home defeat of the season for CSUN.

Long Beach improved to 8-11 overall and 4-3 in the Big West, putting the team in a four-way tie for third place in the conference. Rob Diaz III added 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, with four 3-pointers on six attempts, and led the team with six rebounds. Petar Majstorovic finished with 14 points.

CSUN, now 11-9 and 4-4 in league play, got 21 points from Larry Hughes Jr. James Evans Jr. scored 17, Josh O'Garro had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Josiah Davis recorded 13 points and 10 assists.

Foul trouble hurt Long Beach early, as Majstorovic and Leopold Levillain each picked up two fouls in the opening minutes. With the Beach down 27-22 and just under eight minutes left in the first half, coach Chris Acker put both French big men back on the floor. Long Beach responded with a 13-2 run to lead 35-30, but the offense then stalled and the Matadors finished the half on an 8-0 run to go ahead 38-35.

Hughes was fouled on the opening possession of the second half and made three free throws to stretch the CSUN lead to 41-35. Long Beach answered quickly. Diaz hit two 3-pointers in short order, and Majstorovic's corner three tied the game at 46. Diaz and Sykes then connected on consecutive threes to give the visitors a 54-50 edge.

CSUN countered with a 9-2 run to move ahead 67-65 with a little over eight minutes to play. Dallas Washington's putback of a missed Bender free throw returned the lead to Long Beach, and Sykes took over from there. Two 3-pointers from Sykes made it 77-71 with 3:43 remaining.

The Matadors pulled within 77-76 and still trailed 79-76 with 1:24 left, but Hughes missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Sykes then completed a traditional three-point play to make it 82-76 with 59 seconds on the clock. Mahmoud Fofana's putback layup cut the margin to 83-80 with 24 seconds left, but Sykes sank two more free throws to seal it. CSUN missed its last four shots, three of them from beyond the arc. Sykes scored 16 of Long Beach's final 19 points, and the Beach outscored the Matadors 52-42 in the second half.

Long Beach shot 46.6% from the field, went 10 for 30 on 3-pointers and made 23 of 28 free throws. The visitors also won the fast-break battle 18-9. CSUN shot 40.9% overall, 5 for 19 from three and 21 for 29 at the line, and held a 43-32 rebounding advantage.

Long Beach State visits Cal State Fullerton on Thursday at 7 p.m., then hosts UC Santa Barbara the following Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Pyramid. CSUN is off Thursday and travels to Hawaii the following Saturday for a 9 p.m. PT tip-off.