Long Beach State pulls away from Cal State Fullerton in Big West opener (2025)

FULLERTON — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team finally meshed on Thursday night.

After losing eight consecutive games, Long Beach won its Big West Conference opener in impressive fashion, pulling away from host Cal State Fullerton for a 73-56 win at Titan Gym.

“It’s just been a process for us altogether to, basically, compartmentalize the length of the game and break it down and try to figure out how we can win different segments throughout the course of the game,” first-year Long Beach head coach Chris Acker said. “Our guys are starting to understand how to win basketball games, and they’re preparing in practice the right way, and I think as long as we continue to work, we’ll continue to get better throughout the season.”

Four players scored in double figures for LBSU (2-8 overall, 1-0 Big West), led by Devin Askew with 16 points.

Askew, who added six rebounds, three assists and three steals, began his college career as the starting point guard at Kentucky, transferred to Texas for a season and then spent the past two years battling injuries at Cal.

“I’m proud of Devin. He’s been steady the whole year for us,” Acker said. “This is an opportunity for him to learn how to lead a team, and he’s been healthy all year and he’s playing within himself. When you’re in your first year as a head coach, you need a point guard that can steady the ship and keep everything calm and he does a great job of doing that.”

Fullerton (2-7, 0-1) struggled in nearly every facet of the game.

The Titans missed their first 10 tries from 3-point range before finishing 1 for 13, and they also missed half of their 18 free-throw attempts.

“In one of the biggest rivalry games of the year, we didn’t bring it tonight and there’s no excuse for what we did,” Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor said. “We were very inefficient at the 3-point line, we were inefficient at the free-throw line and when you play games like that, it’s hard to even win.”

Long Beach held a 33-24 lead at halftime after leading by as many as 13 points.

Askew got Long Beach off to a good start by hitting the first shot attempt of the game. His steal and layup gave Long Beach a 4-2 lead and the visitors stayed ahead the rest of the half.

LBSU would have led by more, but went just 5 for 14 at the foul line in the first half.

Fullerton, meanwhile, had trouble making up the deficit, missing all seven of its 3-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

Derrick Michael Xzavierro came off the bench for Long Beach and quickly contributed four points and four rebounds.

Kobe Young, who came in averaging 3.3 points for the Titans, scored nine in the first half, including a dunk off of a feed from Donovan Oday that cut the deficit to 19-17 with 6:23 left in the half.

Long Beach answered with an 8-0 run, however, taking its first double-digit lead on a free throw by Xzavierro.

“We came out with a lot of energy and executed well today,” Askew said.

Kam Martin sank a 3-pointer in front of the Fullerton bench for Long Beach to extend the lead to 11 and the freshman from Maryland hit another after Askew passed out of a backcourt double-team to give Long Beach its biggest lead of the first half at 33-20 with 58 seconds left.

Martin earned the starting nod for Long Beach after scoring 17 points in an 82-66 loss to San Jose State on Saturday in Henderson, Nevada.

“(Martin) he had a great game,” Acker said. “I felt good starting him tonight and keeping him in rhythm and for a freshman, he stepped up and made big shots.”

Acker was also complimentary of Xzavierro, a 6-foot-10 sophomore who finished with nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.

“X was huge on the offensive glass for us and he finished some plays around the basket,” Acker said.

Long Beach scored the first four points of the second half to extend the lead back to 13 and match its biggest lead of the first half. The lead eventually swelled to 21 on two free throws by Askew midway through the second half.

“This was a team victory,” Acker said. “I mean, we’ve got a great group of guys that are continuing to understand how hard it is to win, but also staying committed regardless of the outcome.”

Martin finished with 11 points, and Austin Johnson and TJ Wainwright each added 10 for LBSU.

Kendrick De Luna scored 10 points to lead Fullerton, while Kobe Young had nine points and seven rebounds and John Mikey Square added nine points.

Originally Published: December 5, 2024 at 10:18 PM PST