Long Beach State proves no match for No. 3 Gonzaga – Orange County Register

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Long Beach State basketball team has been on the wrong end of some heartbreaking losses already this season. Wednesday night was not one of them.

Graham Ike and Khalif Battle each had 15 points as No. 3 Gonzaga took a 24-point lead before halftime and routed Long Beach State, 84-41, at GU’s McCarthey Athletic Center. Ryan Nembhard added 10 points and seven assists for the Bulldogs (5-0), who have opened with five straight wins for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

Long Beach (1-4), which lost a one-point in the final seconds at South Dakota State and saw a late rally come up short in a 63-61 home loss to Portland last weekend, fell behind in a hurry against a deep, talented Gonzaga squad (5-0).

The Bulldogs led 9-4 after the first five minutes, then used a 14-0 run to take control. A Battle 3-pointer with 7:40 left gave Gonzaga a 33-9 cushion. Long Beach didn’t get its first offensive rebound until there was 9:15 left in the first half.

Gonzaga extended its lead to 24 points, but the visitors got a 3-pointer from Devin Askew and a putback dunk from Austin Johnson during a surge that cut the margin to 40-24 at halftime.

Long Beach was trailing 54-33 with 13 minutes left when another big Gonzaga run put the game out of reach for good.

Long Beach’s starting backcourt of Devin Askew and TJ Wainwright combined to go 6 for 28 from the field on a night when LBSU shot 31.5% overall and 2 for 20 from 3-point range.

Askew, who came in averaging 17.3 points per game, was held to 12 on 5-for-18 shooting. Wainwright, who came into the game having gone 9 for 21 from 3-point range this season, was held to two points on 1-for-10 shooting (0 for 6 from behind the arc).