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By Dan Arritt | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: December 18, 2025 at 10:01 PM PST
LONG BEACH — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team came out on the right side of a close game on Thursday night, holding on to defeat visiting Pepperdine, 81-78, at the Pyramid.

LBSU led by one point when a pull-up jumper by Long Beach freshman Gavin Sykes rolled off the rim with 15 seconds left.

Javon Cooley grabbed the rebound for Pepperdine and tried to go end-to-end, but Shaquil Bender elevated and blocked his layup attempt. Rob Diaz III grabbed the loose ball for LBSU and was fouled with 10 seconds left. He swished both free throws on the other end, even with a Pepperdine timeout in between.

“It was really amazing, especially because it was probably my fault in why (Cooley) split us,” Sykes said of the block by Bender. “And then to see someone save us defensively, especially at that time of the game, it really saved the game for us and was a huge play.”

Aaron Clark missed a 26-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer for the Waves.

Sykes scored 23 points and Petar Majstorovic had 20 points and six rebounds for Long Beach (3-9), which was coming off an 89-83 overtime loss at San Jose State last Saturday, its second overtime loss in the previous three games.

Sykes became the first LBSU freshman since Lucious Harris in 1990 to score at least 30 points in a game when he hit that mark against San Diego in a 76-72 win on Nov. 30.

“This game was a little personal, so I had an extra little fire in me to really want to win this game, no matter what,” said Sykes, who was recruited by Pepperdine out of Modesto Christian High. “No matter if I’m not playing or I’m playing the whole game. It doesn’t matter to me. I just really wanted to win.”

Bender added 12 points off the bench for LBSU.

Styles Phipps had 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead Pepperdine (4-8). Cooley scored 17 points off the bench and Danilo Dozic finished with 15 points for the Waves.

“Pepperdine, they’ve got good players, and Phipps was a monster tonight,” Long Beach coach Chris Acker said. “He kept them in the game the entire game, and then (Cooley) came in and made a couple huge shots, so they have some really good players and dynamic pieces that make it hard for you.”

Pepperdine shot 64% from the floor in the first half, compared to 48% for LBSU, but the Waves only led 37-36 at the break.

LBSU missed its first five shots and fell behind 7-2 before Sykes got a favorable bounce on a jumper in the key.

Bender, a Philadelphia native who began his college career at Mt. San Antonio College and then transferred to Fullerton College, where he helped the Hornets win the CCCAA state championship in 2022-23, checked in with 11:01 left and immediately made his presence known.

His steal and layup cut the lead to 21-16 and his 3-pointer from the wing tied the score at 25-all with 7:29 left in the half.

Long Beach took its only lead of the first half at 36-35 on a fast-break layup by Majstorovic off a behind-the-back pass from Isaiah Lewis with 1:52 left.

The Waves quickly grabbed the lead back on an inside basket by Yonatan Levy and Pepperdine took the 37-36 advantage into the break.

LBSU visits No. 4 Iowa State (11-0) on Saturday.

“Wins are really, really hard to get in college basketball. All of these teams are good, all of these players are good, everybody’s new, everybody’s figuring out their team,” Acker said. “So, we’re going to enjoy tonight and we’re going to get in the lab (Friday) and figure out what we need to do to have a chance to get up to Iowa State and get it done.”