BAKERSFIELD — Freshman Gavin Sykes scored a career-high 39 points, including the game-winning basket in the closing seconds, as Long Beach State edged Cal State Bakersfield, 88-87, on Saturday night to snap a 10-game losing streak.
Sykes started the game white hot, making his first eight shots and scoring 20 points in the first eight minutes as Long Beach (9-21 overall, 5-13 Big West) opened a 27-14 lead.
Bakersfield (8-22, 2-16) battled back behind a big effort from Ronald Jessamy (33 points, 11 rebounds, three steals). Long Beach held a 29-20 with just under 10 minutes left in the first half, but the Roadrunners used an 11-0 run to recover from Sykes’ early barrage. The teams remained close the rest of the half, and LBSU’s Christian Jones made a half-court shot to beat the halftime buzzer for a 44-43 lead.
Cole Farrell heated up for Long Beach in the second half, hitting three 3-pointers to help keep the visitors in front. LBSU shot 67% from the field in the second half, but Bakersfield kept pace partly due to a 23-7 free-throw disparity after halftime.
Long Beach led by three with three minutes left, then a Sykes 3-pointer, two free throws and a pair of defensive stops gave the visitors an 86-78 lead with 1:40 left. The scrappy Roadrunners battled back, forcing three turnovers and converting them into points to cut the margin to 86-85 with 44 seconds left.
LBSU’s Leopold Levillain missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, then Jessamy made his 10th and 11th free throws to give Bakersfield the lead with 32 seconds to play. Sykes responded, scoring on a drive with seven seconds left to put his team back in front, and a last 3-point attempt from the Roadrunners’ CJ Hardy was no good.
Petar Majstorovic finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for Long Beach, while Rob Diaz III added 10 points off the bench. Levillain contributed seven points, a team-high 13 rebounds and three steals.
Sykes shot 14 for 21 from the field (4 for 6 from 3-point range) and 7 for 8 from the free-throw line. His 39-point effort was tied for the eighth-most in program history alongside another program legend, Ed Ratleff. Sykes also became the 32nd player in Long Beach State history to score 500 points in a season.
Hardy finished with 19 points, six assists and five steals for Bakersfield, which has lost 13 consecutive games, the fourth-longest streak in the nation behind Air Force (22), VMI (16) and Kansas City (14). Tom Mark added 17 points and two steals.
Long Beach shot 61% from the field overall and 9 for 16 from 3-point range. The Roadrunners hot 53% overall but just 3 for 10 from behind the arc. Bakersfield shot 30 for 44 from the free-throw line compared to 13 for 20 for Long Beach.
UP NEXT
Long Beach State hosts UC Davis in its final home game of the season on Thursday at 7 p.m.
BIG WEST STANDINGS
Through Saturday, Feb. 28
Team – Overall, Big West
Hawaii – 21-7, 13-5
UC Irvine – 20-10, 13-5
UC San Diego – 21-9, 11-7
Cal State Northridge – 18-12, 11-7
UC Santa Barbara – 18-12, 11-8
UC Davis – 17-12, 10-8
Cal State Fullerton – 15-15, 10-8
Cal Poly (SLO) – 13-17, 9-9
Long Beach State – 9-21, 5-13
UC Riverside – 10-21, 5-14
Cal State Bakersfield – 8-22, 2-16
