SEASIDE, Calif. – The San Francisco State men's basketball team suffered its second straight heartbreaking loss on Thursday night, falling to Cal State Monterey Bay, 73-72, in a hard-fought California Collegiate Athletic Association game at the Kelp Bed in Seaside, Calif. With the defeat, the Gators slip to 8-6 overall and 2-5 in the CCAA, while the Otters raise their record to 11-3 on the year and 5-2 in league action.
Trailing 73-72, SF State regained possession with 26 seconds left in the game following a missed free throw by the Otters' Steve Monreal on the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity. However, CSUMB had three fouls to give as the Gators could only get one shot off, a missed jumper at the buzzer, to saddle the visitors with the hard-luck loss.
“That is a unique situation to be in at the end of a physical ballgame,” said SF State head coach Bill Treseler. “But that's life on the road. I'm proud of the guys, and we met a lot of our objectives. We got solid contributions from a lot of people and will look for a similar effort on Saturday.”
The Gators had three players reach double figures, led by sophomore
Robert Hayes' (San Diego, California, St. Augustine)16 points, while senior
Brad Visman (Placerville, California, El Dorado, UC Riverside) and fellow classmate
Alex Thomas tallied 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The game was a seesaw affair throughout, featuring 22 lead changes and 11 ties. A layup by senior
Martin Flores (Woodland, California, Woodland, Solano Junior College) with 4:32 remaining in the first half ignited a 12-2 run as SF State erased a 34-32 deficit to take a 44-36 lead with 57 seconds left on the clock. However, CSUMB curbed the Gators' momentum with a layup and a pair of foul shots, making the score 44-40 in favor of the visitors at intermission.
Following the break, SF State regained a seven-point bulge at 49-42 on a Visman layup with just two minutes elapsed in the second half. The Otters responded with an 11-2 spurt to take a 53-51 lead at the 14:36 mark, punctuated by a 3-pointer by Monreal and a Stephen Becker free throw.
It was then the Gators turn to rally as a triple by Hayes capped a 12-5 run to give the visitors their largest lead of the period with 9:22 remaining. SF State was unable to keep CSUMB at bay, however, as the hosts scored seven straight points to go up, 64-63, climaxed by a Monreal trey with 7:56 left on the clock.
The two teams were in a duel at this juncture, with the Gators taking their final lead of the contest at 70-69 on a Flores jumper at the 2:49 mark. The Otters then answered with four straight points to go up 73-70 on two Monreal foul shots and a layup by Sean Jergo with 1:33 remaining.
A layup by senior
Will Logan (Apple Valley, California, Apple Valley) on the Gators next possession trimmed the deficit to 73-72. The Gators then regained the ball following an errant pass, but were unable to capitalize on the miscue. Sophomore
Phoenix O'Rourke subsequently fouled Monreal, setting the stage for the final sequence.
SF State held a 30-23 rebounding advantage, but were outshot 51.1-44.3 percent from the field. The Otters also converted 18-25 free-throw attempts compared to the Gators 11-for-14 clip.
Monreal finished with a game-high 23 points to lead CSUMB.
With the end of its five-game road swing, SF State returns home to the friendly confines of the Main Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 17, when it locks horns with UC San Diego beginning at 7:30 p.m.
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