SAN LUIS OBISPO — Long Beach State has been involved in plenty of tight games this season, so a wire-to-wire win was a welcome change of pace.
Lassina Traore had 19 points and 15 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season and Long Beach never trailed in a 70-52 victory over Cal Poly on Thursday night, holding the Mustangs to 35.5% shooting.
AJ George and Tone Hunter added 12 points apiece, while Aboubacar Traore had 10 points, six rebounds and a team-high four assists for Long Beach (11-10 overall, 5-4 Big West Conference), which needed three overtimes to edge UC San Diego, 112-110, over the weekend.
Amari Stroud added nine points in 13 minutes for LBSU, which was without Marcus Tsohonis, who was nursing a minor injury a few days after scoring a program-record 46 points in the 55-minute win at UCSD.
Cal Poly (7-14, 1-8) got a pair of 3-pointers from Kobe Sanders early, but Long Beach clamped down from there, forcing the Mustangs into 0-for-19 shooting from behind the arc for the rest of the night, though LBSU didn’t do much damage from long range either (1 for 9).
Leading 15-14, a Hunter layup sparked a 10-2 Long Beach run that created some distance. LBSU led 39-29 at halftime and enjoyed a comfortable cushion throughout, pushing the lead to 51-35 on a jumper from Lassina Traore. LBSU did have to survive a cold spell offensively, and the Mustangs crept within single digits at 57-48, but Hunter answered with a quick basket and Long Beach coasted to victory.
While neither team did much from the perimeter, Long Beach’s post play led to a lot of free-throw opportunities and the visitors enjoyed a significant advantage there, going 19 for 27 compared to just 6 for 11 for Cal Poly. Long Beach outrebounded the Mustangs 44-35.
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Brantly Stevenson had 13 points to lead Cal Poly. Kobe Sanders had nine points and Trevon Taylor had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Like Stroud, Jadon Jones returned to the lineup, but Marcus Tsohonis sat out with a minor injury.
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Long Beach State returns to the Walter Pyramid to host UC Davis on Saturday at 1 p.m.