TURLOCK, Calif. – The San Francisco State men's basketball team opened the second half of its conference schedule on a down note Friday, dropping a 63-59 decision at the hands of Cal State Stanislaus at Warrior Arena.

Trailing 33-23 early in the second half, the visiting Gators closed to within one on several occasions, but were never able to grab the lead, falling to 13-7 on the season and 6-6 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.  Meanwhile, the Warriors move to 9-6 overall and 5-7 in league play with the win.

“Stanislaus played us tough and forced us into a lot if physical and mental mistakes,” said SF State head coach Bill Treseler.  “We played with good intensity, but there must be execution to go along with effort.  I'm confident we'll bounce back and play better on Saturday.”

The Gators were paced by Phoenix O'Rourke (San Mateo, Calif., Junipero Serra HS), who scored 14 points, including a 6-for-7 effort from the free-throw line, while Nefi Perdomo (Oakland, Calif., Skyline HS) dished out a game-high four assists. SF State also received nine points apiece from Marquel Hoskins (Beloit, Wis., Beloit Memorial HS, Reedley College) and Tim Pratt (Eureka, Calif., Eureka HS, College of the Redwoods), while Derek Fletcher (San Jose, Calif., Branham HS) pulled down eight rebounds to go along with eight points.

The Warriors had two players in double figures, including Dwight Jones, who tallied a game-best 19 points, while Jordan Stokes finished with 12. In addition, Frank Monge came away with 10 rebounds and posted four blocks.

Neither side shot the ball particularly well as the Gators connected on 23 of 59 field-goal attempts (39 percent), while CSUS was 21-for-57 from the floor (37.5 percent). However, the Warriors were plus-9 from the free-throw line, connecting on 17 of 23 foul shots, while Gators were 8-for-12 at the charity stripe.

The two teams slugged it out in the first half, with CSUS building a 14-9 advantage after a 3-pointer by Julian Williams at the 11:45 mark.  SF State regrouped with a 9-3 run as a jumper by Jeremy Francis (San Francisco, Calif., George Washington HS, Mayville State Univ.) gave the visitors their last lead of the evening at 18-17 with 6:03 left in the period. The Warriors countered with an 11-0 outburst of their own, however, pulling ahead to stay at 28-18 after a Marcus Lever triple with 1:48 before intermission.

The Gators turned the ball over four times and missed four shots during that stretch until O'Rourke hit a 3-pointer at the 1:35 mark to give the contest its 28-21 halftime score.  SF State was unable to get to the free-throw line in the first half, while CSUS was 7-for-8 from the charity stripe in the period.

After the Warriors reclaimed a 10-point cushion at 33-23 following the break, the Gators put together an 11-2 run, narrowing the gap to 35-34 on a triple by Joshua Hash (Eureka, Calif., Eureka HS, College of the Redwoods) with 14:14 to go.  CSUS was able to maintain the upper hand, however, extending its lead to seven at 50-43 on a pair of Stokes free throws at the 5:08 mark. 

SF State scored the next six points, closing within 50-49 on a Hoskins basket with 3:29 left.  After an exchange of layups on three consecutive possessions, O'Rourke drained two free throws, trimming the lead to one for the final time at 54-53 with 1:58 remaining. Two baskets by Stokes sandwiched around a Gator miss put the Warriors in the driver's seat at 58-53 with 1:20 left on the clock.