LA JOLLA, Calif. – In a game that featured 20 ties and 17 lead changes, three Tritons registered 20-plus point games, but Long Beach State got a career-high 46 from Marcus Tsohonis and the Beach persevered for a marathon, 112-110, three-overtime victory over UC San Diego Saturday afternoon at LionTree Arena.
Tsohonis' 46-point effort marked the most points scored in a Division I game this season. Long Beach improved to 10-10 overall and 4-4 in The Big West with the win.
Roddie Anderson III scored a career-high 28 and
Francis Nwaokorie added a personal-best 26 points and 14 boards for the Tritons, who fell to 7-13 overall and 2-6 in Big West play.
Bryce Pope chipped in 21.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half and the rapid pace helped Long Beach State take a 47-41 lead into halftime. The first 20 minutes featured ten ties and nine lead changes. Both teams shot 53% overall.
The Tritons led 35-33 before a 12-0 run for Long Beach State put the visitors up 45-35 late in the half. UC San Diego broke a three-and-a-half-minute scoreless drought with a corner three-pointer from
Jake Kosakowski, his second of the half.
Tsohonis scored 24 first half points for the Beach on 10-of-19 shooting. Anderson paced the Tritons with 13 points while adding four assists.
Long Beach built its largest lead of the game, 61-50, before UC San Diego battled back. Another three from Kosakowski capped a 9-0 run that drew the Tritons to within two, 61-59, with just over ten minutes left.
Kosakowski buried his fourth three of the game with 5:36 left, tying the score at 69. A Nwaokorie free throw put the Tritons on top, 70-69.
Trailing by two in the final moments of the second half, Nwaokorie grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on the put-back attempt. He calmly sank two free throws with six seconds to play, tying the score at 80 and sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, Anderson put the Tritons ahead with a fast break dunk midway through the extra session.
In the second overtime, a pair of free throws from Pope with three seconds left sent the game into a third bonus period. With 13 seconds to play, Pope drained a pair of free throws to give UC San Diego a 110-107 lead. However, a free throw and a put-back of a miss by the Beach tied the score with seven seconds left. On the ensuing in-bounds, UC San Diego committed a costly turnover leading to a Long Beach bucket with just 5 seconds to play.
QUOTABLE
TRITON TIDBITS
- The Tritons registered a season-high 21 assists while committing 11 turnovers.
- UC San Diego has led at halftime in five of their eight Big West games, but Long Beach State had the halftime lead in both meetings this season.
- Saturday marked the second time this season (and second consecutive game) in which the Tritons have had multiple 20-point scorers in the same game.
- This was UC San Diego's first triple overtime game since the 2013 CCAA (Division II) quarterfinal game against Cal State San Bernardino – a 102-99 Triton setback.
- The 110-point effort was the most UC San Diego scored in a game since dropping 118 on Cal State Monterey Bay in a 118-66 win over the Otters on Feb. 28, 2019.
- UC San Diego is now 1-2 in overtime games this season and 3-1 all-time in overtime against Big West foes since joining the conference.
- UC San Diego used a starting lineup of Roddie Anderson III, Jace Roquemore, Bryce Pope, Jake Kosakowski, and Francis Nwaokorie – for the second consecutive game.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego hits the road for a pair of Big West games next week. The Tritons play at CSUN Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN+) before traveling to UC Riverside on Saturday (1 p.m., Spectrum SportsNet).
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
