SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco State men's basketball team staged an incredible rally on Friday night, but ultimately came up short in a 80-73 loss to Cal State San Bernardino in the final game of the 2008-09 regular season at the Main Gymnasium. The Gators received double-digit scoring efforts from three players; however, a 19-point second-half deficit proved too much to overcome.
With the loss, SF State falls to 14-13 on the season and 8-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, while the Coyotes improve to 17-9 and 15-5 in conference play. The defeat also means the Gators will travel south to Cal Poly Pomona for the first round of the CCAA playoffs on Tuesday, March 3.
Individually, SF State was led by
Alex Thomas (Vallejo, California, Hogan, Dominican University), who tossed in 26 points and tied for game-high honors with four assists, while
Robert Hayes (San Diego, California, St. Augustine) contributed 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting. In addition,
Ryan Wessels (Napa, California, Vintage, Napa Valley College) posted a career-high seven blocks, while
Phoenix O'Rourke (San Mateo, California, Junipero Serra) netted a collegiate-best five 3-pointers en route to a 15-point performance.
Neither side was able to find much consistency from the floor, as SF State shot 41.9 percent for the game on 26-of-62 field-goal attempts, compared to CSUB's 25-for-64 pace (39.1 percent). However, SF State was outrebounded by a 51-40 margin and attempted 16 fewer foul shots, connecting on 13-of-23 free throws, while the Coyotes went 24-of-39 from the charity stripe.
The Gators trailed throughout most of the first half and were looking down the barrel of a 20-10 deficit following a triple by CSUB's Michael Frazier at the 12:12 mark. SF State gradually fought itself off the ropes, taking its first lead of the night at 26-24 after a 3-pointer by O'Rourke and a Thomas layup capped a 14-4 run over a 4:23 span. The Gator edge proved to be short-lived, however, as a 7-0 spurt put the Coyotes ahead 31-26 with 5:37 remaining. CSUB then managed to keep the home team at bay for the remainder of the period, maintaining a three-point cushion of 37-34 at halftime.
The Coyotes stretched the margin to double-digits in the second half, as a tip-in by Brandon Brown put the visitors up 57-42 at the 10:49 mark. Just over three minutes later, CSUB built its biggest bulge of the evening at 64-45 following a 3-pointer by Brown with 6:36 to go.
SF State began its climb back into contention at this juncture, as a Hayes 3-pointer and consecutive layups by Thomas narrowed the deficit to 70-63 with 2:57 left on the clock. Following a Coyote basket, the Gators regained the momentum with an 8-2 run, as Hayes connected on a triple and a jumper, while Thomas drained a trio of free throws after being fouled from beyond the arc, which tightened the score to 74-71 with 1:12 left to play. However, CSUB hit six foul shots in the final 50 seconds to hold on for the win.
Brown led all scorers with 32 points and also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds while adding four blocks.
