HONOLULU — Aboubacar Traore had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Colin Slater added 16 points and Drew Cobb keyed a late surge as Long Beach State defeated Hawaii, 73-66, on Thursday night for its 10th consecutive win.

Leading by one with less than three minutes left, Long Beach outscored the Rainbow Warriors 7-0 over a two-minute stretch – with Cobb scoring his only five points of the night during the surge.

LBSU went 8 for 10 from the free-throw line in the final 44 seconds to secure the win.

Romelle Mansel scored 11 points and Jadon Jones added 10 for Long Beach (14-9 overall, 9-1 Big West Conference).

Noel Coleman had 22 points to pace Hawaii (11-8, 6-3), the last team to beat Long Beach. Jerome Desrosiers added 16 points.

Forcing 11 first-half turnovers helped LBSU open a nine-point lead in the first half, but Hawaii got within five by halftime.

The Rainbow Warriors heated up from long range in the second half, pulled within one on a 3-pointer by Coleman then went ahead, 53-52, on a JoVon McClanahan layup with 6:56 left. Traore helped LBSU pull back ahead by five a few minutes later, but Hawaii cut the margin to 60-59 on a pair of DesRosiers free throws with 2:56 left.

That’s when Cobb made his timely contribution.

Cobb hit a jumper with 2:44 left, then after McClanahan missed a 3-point shot, he added a free throw with 2:01 left. A Jones steal led to a Slater jumper, then after another Hawaii miss, the Warriors were forced to foul. Cobb made a pair of free throws with 44 seconds left to extend the lead to 67-59 and put LBSU back in control.

Hawaii got within four when Coleman made three free throws with 12 seconds left, but Joel Murray answered with a pair for Long Beach to remove all doubt.

UP NEXT

Long Beach State is off this weekend then plays at Cal State Northridge on Thursday, Feb. 17.