LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Elijah Pepper scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed a key defensive rebound with three seconds to play and UC Davis held off Long Beach 85-82 on Thursday night.
Trailing by as many as 20 points, Long Beach closed to 83-81 with seven seconds left on Chance Hunter's back-to-back 3-pointers, but Pepper made one of two free throws, then got the rebound after Long Beach's Colin Slater missed the second of two free throws.
Pepper was fouled and iced it with one of two from the line.
Ezra Manjon scored 19 points, Joe Mooney scored 14 and Stefan Gonzalez scored 13 off the bench for the Aggies (7-11, 1-1 Big West Conference), who made 27 of 36 free throws.
Hunter hit 5 of 9 3-pointers and scored a season-high 28 points for Long Beach (6-13, 1-2) and Joshua Morgan scored 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Colin Slater and Jordan Roberts scored 11 points apiece. Jordan Griffin hit a 3-pointer for his 100th career trey.
UC Davis takes on Cal State Northridge on the road on Saturday. Long Beach State takes on Cal State Fullerton at home on Saturday.
