LONG BEACH — There’s no place like home.
After eight straight games away from home to begin the season, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team returned to the Walter Pyramid and controlled play for most of the evening, leading for nearly 30 minutes on the way to an 83-73 victory over Sacramento State on Saturday.
Jadon Jones had 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting to go with six rebounds and Lassina Traore had 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 11 rebounds to pace LBSU (5-4). Isa Silva had nine points and six assists and Aboubacar Traore had eight points, eight rebounds and six assists off the bench for Long Beach, which played without leading scorer Marcus Tsohonis, who was out with a minor injury.
Sacramento State (2-6) grabbed an early lead behind a pair of quick 3-pointers, but Long Beach quickly recovered and tied the score on the first of three 3-pointers from Jones at 14-14. Leading 24-22, LBSU used a 17-6 run to stretch the margin to 13 points, but the Hornets pulled back within 43-39 by halftime.
The visitors would not go away and took its first and only lead of the second half at 60-59, but Long Beach answered with a 7-1 run and led by at least three the rest of the way. Leading by four with just less than three minutes remaining, a final Jones 3-pointer and a basket from Amari Stroud extended the margin to 79-70 and sealed the win.
Long Beach finished with a season-high 23 assists and just eight turnovers while outscoring the Hornets 46-28 in the paint.
Brandon Betson had 17 points on 5-of-16 shooting to pace Sacramento, while Zee Hamoda had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting to go with six rebounds. Duncan Powell added 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
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Long Beach will remain at home next week, hosting Life Pacific on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
