LONG BEACH — Long Beach State held Portland scoreless over the final three minutes to give itself a chance to win, but Devin Askew’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer was off line in a 63-61 loss to the Pilots on Saturday afternoon at the Walter Pyramid.
Long Beach (1-3) trailed by as much as 10 points and was down by eight after Portland’s Vukasin Masic made a pair of free throws with 3:26 remaining, but the hosts clamped down on defense from there. A pair of Cam Denson baskets trimmed the deficit in half, then Ramel Lloyd Jr. made it a two-point margin on a driving layup with 17 seconds left.
Masic missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw with 11 seconds left, giving LBSU one last chance. Portland freshman Austin Rapp guarded the speedy Askew and forced a tough, fallaway 3-point attempt from the left wing that was off line, allowing the Pilots to hold on.
It was the second tight loss for LBSU in eight days, after the team dropped an 80-79 decision at South Dakota State last Friday, a game that was decided by an SDSU three-point play with 1.5 seconds left.
Portland (2-2) opened the game with an 11-2 run and led nearly the entire game, but Long Beach hit six 3-point shots in the first half and took its first lead at 23-22 on a three-point play from Denson with just under six minutes left. The Pilots used a 6-0 run to take a 35-30 halftime lead.
Tied at 40-40, the Pilots went on a 14-4 run to open a double-digit lead with 8:14 left before Long Beach answered.
Denson had 15 points (on 5-for-7 shooting), nine rebounds and two steals off the bench for LBSU, while Askew finished with 10 points (on 3-for-14 shooting), eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. Lloyd also scored 15 points, while TJ Wainwright added 10.
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Rapp had 18 points and shot 5 for 10 from behind the arc to pace Portland. Max Mackinnon had 12 points, and Masic added nine points, seven rebounds and six assists. Todd Jones contributed eight points and six rebounds.
The team statistics and shooting numbers were close across the board, with both teams squandering some points at the free-throw line. LBSU was just 10 for 19 at the foul line, while Portland was 11 for 17.
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Long Beach travels to Spokane, Wash., to face No. 4 Gonzaga on Wednesday at 7 p.m.