March Madness begins for Long Beach State men’s basketball as the fourth seed in the Big West Championship, facing (5) UC Riverside at 8:30 p.m. today on ESPN+ from the Dollar Loan Center Arena.
Long Beach State won both meetings between the teams in the regular season, earning a tiebreaker that gave the Beach the four seed and a first-round bye. UC Riverside earned their spot in the second round with a 83-78 win over CSU Bakersfield in the opening round.
Junior Aboubacar Traore repeated as the Best Hustle Player in the Big West and earned First Team All-Big West honors for his efforts this season. In conference play, Traore averaged 12.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists and ranked in the Top 10 in rebounding, assists, blocks and steals throughout the year.
Other honorees included Lassina Traore, who earned Second Team honors as an All-Big West selection twice in two years, while senior Marcus Tsohonis was named Honorable Mention after ranking eighth in the league in scoring during Big West action.
Junior Jadon Jones has raised his scoring average to 12.6 points per game and is shooting nearly 40% from three this season, and became the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Jones now ranks 17th all-time in scoring at Long Beach State.
Long Beach State stole the national spotlight with a 84-79 OT win on the road at USC. Senior Marcus Tsohonis led the team with 28 points while Jadon Jones added 18 in the win over the Trojans, the first since 2013 for LBSU and the first since 1987 in Los Angeles.
Tsohonis has brought his best against the best, scoring 35 points in a win at Michigan and 28 in win at USC. The senior passed 1,000 career points scored across stretches at Washington, VCU and Long Beach State and has twice scored 30 or more in two seasons at LBSU. The team’s leading scorer at 17.1 points per game, Tsohonis set a program record with 46 points in a triple overtime win at UCSD last season.
