Southland basketball: Khalil Ahmad, Austen Awosika lead CSU Fullerton past Long Beach State; UC Davis beats CSU Northridge

Khalil Ahmad scored 19 points, Austen Awosika added 17 with a game-ending steal and Cal State Fullerton held off a late charge to defeat Long Beach State 85-82 Wednesday night.

Jackson Rowe scored 15 with 11 rebounds for CSU Fullerton (11-13, 7-3 Big West Conference), which led by as many as 12 in the second half before Long Beach rallied.

Long Beach State’s Edon Maxhuni dribbled the length of the court and curled down the baseline, whipping a pass to Bryan Alberts for a 3-pointer that cut the gap to 83-80 with 22 seconds left. Deishaun Booker scored underneath making it 84-82 with 12 seconds to go.

The 49ers (9-17, 3-17) used a full-court press and double team to force a turnover with 8.1 seconds on the clock, but gave the ball right back with a traveling call.

Ahmad made 1 of 2 free throws at the other end and Awosika picked off Long Beach State to end the game.

Booker scored 22 — all in the second half — to lead Long Beach. Mason Riggins and Temidayo Yussuf scored 17 each. The 49ers have lost six of their last seven.

at UC Davis 76, CSU Northridge 59: Joe Mooney scored 21 points as UC Davis cruised to a 76-59 victory over Cal State Northridge on Wednesday night for its fourth straight win.

UC Davis (9-14, 5-4 Big West Conference) has beaten CSUN (10-15, 4-5) in 11 consecutive games.

Mooney was 8-of-11 shooting and he collected his second career 20-point game. His last bucket was a baseline reverse layup with about four minutes left.

Stefan Gonzalez added a career-high 15 points and matched a career-best with eight rebounds. Mooney and Gonzalez each made five of the Aggies’ 12 3-pointers. TJ Shorts chipped in eight points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Terrell Gomez made six 3-pointers and scored 24 points for the Matadors. Lamine Diane added 20 points. The pair combined to make 15 of CSUN’s 21 field goals. The Aggies had an eight-point halftime lead, opened the second half on a 16-6 run and led by double digits the rest of the way.

MEN WEDNESDAY

Pepperdine at San Francisco 7 p.m.

UC Santa Barbara at UC Riverside 7 p.m.

No. 3 Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount 8 p.m.