The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2022-23 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
Lassina Traore led Long Beach State men’s basketball to a 77-61 victory over Cal State Bakersfield by recording his 16th double-double of the season on Thursday at Walter Pyramid.
Traore led all scorers with 20 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. AJ George and Marcus Tsohonis both scored 11 points while Amari Stroud and Jadon Jones chipped in 10 points each. Aboubacar Traore grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.
This was the last home game of the year for LBSU (17-14, 11-8 Big West) with one road game left at UC Davis on Saturday. The Big West Conference Tournament starts next week. The Beach is currently sixth in the standings.
LBSU was fantastic on defense while holding CSU Bakersfield to 7-of-25 shooting in the first half. The Beach led 38-20 at halftime.
Before the game, LBSU recognized their lone senior Joel Murray who has been out with injury. He was leading the Beach in scoring at 15.7 points per game, and finished off his collegiate career at LBSU and West Texas A&M with 2,418 points scored, 561 rebounds, 533 assists and 250 steals.