SAN DIEGO — The Long Beach State men’s basketball team threw itself into the fire with a challenging season opener on the road, and the result left LBSU with plenty to work on.

Miles Byrd had 13 points and eight rebounds and Elzie Harrington also scored 13 points to lead a balanced attack for San Diego State, which used stingy defense to pull away from Long Beach, 77-45, in front of 11,000 on Tuesday night at Viejas Arena.

Tae Simmons, Taj DeGourville and Miles Heide scored 10 points apiece for SDSU (1-0).

Petar Majstorovic had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead Long Beach (0-1). Freshman Dallas Washington added seven points on a night when nine Long Beach players scored.

LBSU started well enough. A 3-pointer from Majstorovic gave the visitors an early 9-7 lead, and after trailing by si

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