While UW Nosedives, Ex-Husky Tsohonis Has 46-Point Outing

Now at Long Beach State, the guard from Portland tops previous college scoring best by 17.

Dan Raley | Jan 22, 2023

While UW Nosedives, Ex-Husky Tsohonis Has 46-Point Outing /

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Washington Huskies

At the same time the University of Washington basketball team was losing by 25 points and looking dismal in Salt Lake City, Marcus Tsohonis was going for 46 in a near-empty gym just outside of San Diego.

Forever proving Mike Hopkins wrong about him.

Continuing to show everyone across college basketball that the kid from Portland with the interesting hair and unconventional jump shot can play.

That the 6-foot-3 junior guard can step up and make something happen when needed.

On Saturday night, Tsohonis helped a shorthanded Long Beach State team pull out a 112-110 triple-overtime victory over UC San Diego with his scoring outburst before a meager crowd of 1,039 at LionTree Arena in La Jolla, California.

Forced to take a bigger role with just eight players available, Tsohonis played 54 minutes (all but one) and sank 15 of 38 shots, including 3 of 9 from 3-point range. He also converted 13 of 17 free throws and supplied 6 rebounds and 4 assists, while drawing 4 personal fouls and avoiding fouling out.

His 3-pointer with 63 seconds left in the first extra session tied the game at 90 and forced another overtime for the 49ers (10-10 overall, 4-4 Big West).

His 46 points were a career best, topping the 29 he scored for the UW at Washington State during the 2020-21 season.

Tsohonis played two seasons for the Huskies as a part-time starter and left over Hopkins' reluctance to rely on him more. He transferred to Virginia Commonwealth last year before moving on to Long Beach State. His 49ers coach is Dan Monson, the former Gonzaga leader.

A full-time starter now, Tsohonis averages 14.3 points and shoots 40.9 percent.

In Saturday's game, UC San Diego (7-13, 2-6) played without 6-foot-9 J'Raan Brooks, Tsohonis' former Husky teammate. The big man missed all of last season with a knee injury and had appeared in just eight games before going out again.

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Published Jan 22, 2023

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.