LONG BEACH — Petar Majstorovic had 23 points, Gavin Sykes scored 22 and Rob Diaz III added 20, as the trio led Long Beach State to an 81-75 victory over Cal State Bakersfield in a Big West Conference game on Saturday evening at the Pyramid.

Majstorovic battled foul trouble throughout but shot 9 for 12 from the field (2 for 3 from 3-point range) and added three steals in 29 minutes. Sykes, who is among the nation’s freshman scoring leaders, shot 7 for 13 from the field (3 for 6 from 3-point range) to go with four rebounds. Diaz shot 6 for 12 from the field (2 for 4 from behind the arc) and stuffed the stat sheet with nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots while making all six of his free throws.

LBSU (6-11 overall, 2-3 Big West) also got key contributions from freshman Leopold Levillain, who had his first career double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds in a game when the starting five scored all but four of the team’s points.

Bakersfield (8-10, 2-4) used a 9-2 run to grab a 26-18 lead midway through the first half, but Long Beach responded. A Sykes 3-pointer cut the margin to three points, then a Diaz transition basket gave the hosts a 32-30 lead. Tied at 34-all, LBSU closed the half on an 8-2 run for a 42-36 lead.

Long Beach extended its lead to 55-39 on a Majstorovic floater with 12:51 to play and had things largely under control from there, but the Roadrunners made a late push while Majstorovic was limited to 13 second-half minutes because of his foul trouble.

Levillain delivered a key putback basket for an eight-point lead (70-62) with three minutes left, then added a tip-in with 2:01 left to keep the lead at eight points. Bakersfield’s Jaden Alexander scored off a turnover to cut the deficit to five points with 47 seconds left, and the visitors crept within 74-70 on a pair of free throws from Kadar Waller with 36 seconds left.

Long Beach went 7 for 8 from the free-throw line from that point to close out the win, its third straight at home.

Alexander finished with 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting and seven rebounds to pace the Roadrunners. Ron Jessamy had 15 points and six rebounds, and Tom Mark chipped in with 11 points, four assists and three steals.

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LBSU will host UC Riverside on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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