Facing the third-ranked Big West team, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team couldn’t overcome foul trouble and its mounting injury list in a 108-98 loss to Cal State Northridge Wednesday night at the Matadome.
After a back-and-forth battle with the Matadors (10-12, 5-3 Big West) in the first half, the 49ers trailed CSUN 50-45 at halftime.
The two teams were tied 11 times while neither team could breakaway from the other.
In the second half, things shifted as LBSU’s junior guard Justin Bibbins had to sit out with four fouls.
That led to the Matadors taking advantage of the guard’s absence as they used their athleticism to speed the game up, which led to easy baskets in transition.
With Bibbins out, CSUN took a one-point lead and extended it to a 77-67 lead with less than 10 minutes left in the game.
Bibbins finished with 20 points and nine assists before fouling out. From there, CSUN cruised to the win as they got easy baskets inside the paint.
The loss pushes LBSU to 1-13 on the road. Along with the loss, the 49ers’ defense could not keep up as CSUN’s redshirt junior Kendall Smith, redshirt junior Darin Johnson and junior forward Tavrion Dawson each scored over 20 points to combine for 70.
The performance puts a spotlight on how the losses of junior forward Gabe Levin and sophomore Noah Blackwell have hindered what the 49ers would like to do.
Along with Bibbins’ 20 points, junior forward Roschon Prince had a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Junior guard Evan Payne scored 18 points after he came up limping early in the second half.
Next up, LBSU will look to regroup when they host UC Irvine at the Walter Pyramid Saturday at 8 p.m.