LONG BEACH — The Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team survived a wild comeback bid from Long Beach State for a 78-76 road win to move into a three-way tie atop the Big West Conference standings.

Josiah Davis had 21 points and nine assists to pace CSUN (18-10 overall, 11-5 Big West), which won its seventh consecutive game to move into a tie for first place with Hawaii (19-7, 11-5) and UC Irvine (18-10, 11-5) with two weeks left in the regular season. Joshua O’Garro had 13 points and seven rebounds, while Grady Lewis added 12 points and Mahmoud Fofana contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.

Northridge led by as much as 11 points in the first half – shooting 58% from the field and scoring 38 points in the paint – before settling for a 46-38 advantage at halftime.

The Matadors opened their biggest lead of the night at 60-43 when Davis scored in the paint near the 14-minute mark of the second half, but Long Beach (8-20, 4-12) refused to go quietly. Out of a timeout, Isaiah Lewis his a 3-pointer to begin a 10-0 run to cut the margin back to seven points. Davis scored seven points as CSUN appeared to pull away again with a 9-0 run for a 71-54 lead with 8:13 left, but LBSU made one last push.

Shaquil Bender – who shot 4 for 4 from 3-point range in the second half – sparked a 13-2 run. He made a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 73-67 with 3:40 remaining, then he hit another with 1:59 left to get Long Beach within 75-72.

With the lead nearly gone, Davis found Jordan Brinson for a timely 3-pointer with 1:16 remaining to push the margin back to six. Long Beach scored the next four points, with Bender knocking down another 3-pointer (his seventh) to get the hosts within 78-76 with 55 seconds left.

Leopold Levillain blocked a Davis shot with 31 seconds left, and LBSU had two chances at a game-tying or go-ahead basket in the final seconds. Bender missed a jumper with nine seconds left, then, after Davis missed a pair of free throws with three seconds left, Gavin Sykes was off the mark as time expired.

“Winning Division I games on the road is hard, especially against a team like that, who is so well-coached and has so much firepower. We’re going to take that,” CSUN coach Andy Newman said. “Obviously, we’re coming out of there with the right mindset. We’ve got to get better. We have to finish games off better. We know that and it’s great that we learn those lessons without having to take a loss in the process.”

Bender finished with a game-high 27 points for Long Beach, which lost its ninth straight game. Sykes added 13 points, while Rob Diaz III scored 11.

CSUN finished with a dominant 60-18 advantage in paint points, but was just 3 for 10 from behind the arc and 9 for 18 from the free-throw line.

LBSU shot 12 for 26 from 3-point range to help make up much of the paint disadvantage.

CSUN will host UC Irvine on Thursday at 7 p.m.

LBSU plays at Cal Poly (SLO) on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Team – Overall, Big West

Hawaii – 19-7, 11-5

UC Irvine – 18-10, 11-5

Cal State Northridge – 18-10, 11-5

UC Santa Barbara – 17-11, 10-7

UC Davis – 17-11, 10-7

Cal State Fullerton – 15-14, 10-7

UC San Diego – 19-9, 9-7

Cal Poly (SLO) – 12-16, 8-8

Long Beach State – 8-20, 4-12

UC Riverside – 9-20, 4-13

Cal State Bakersfield – 8-20, 2-14