LOS ANGELES--- SF State men's basketball team snapped its two-game losing streak by defeating the Cal State LA Golden Eagles (9-3, 5-2 CCAA) 54-45 this evening in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) game at the Eagles' Nest in Los Angeles. SF State (11-4, 4-3 CCAA) held the Golden Eagles to just 35% shooting from the field and forced 16 turnovers to key its conference victory.

            “Our defense stepped up in a big way,” said SF State Head Coach Bill Treseler. “This was a tough weekend and I feel our guys learned and improved,” added Treseler. “Tim Pratt is playing at a high level and Nefi Perdomo (Oakland, California, Skyline ), Phoenix O'Rourke (San Mateo, California, Junipero Serra), Daniel Trammel (Oceanside, California, El Camino), and Aaron Trigg (Suisun City, California, Napa Valley College) brought it big on the defensive end.”

            SF State jumped out to an early 9-4 lead in the first six minutes of the game, but the Golden Eagles came back and went on a 7-2 run capped by a Dwayne Jones' three to tie the game at 11-11 with the last one coming at 17-17 at the 6:01 mark. The Gators finished the half outscoring their hosts 6-3 in the final minutes of the half to take a 23-20 lead in the locker room.

            The Gators started the half on a 13-3 run capped by an Aaron Trigg lay-up to take a 36-23 lead in the first five minutes of the second stanza. Cal State LA cut the Gator lead to 39-31 on a Jones' lay-up with 11:18 to go in the game. Joshua Hash (Eureka, California, College of the Redwoods) jumper increased the Gators' lead back to 10 (41-31) with 10:21 to go.

            Jones' jumper capped a 4-0 run to cut the visitors' lead to six (41-35), but the Gators once again increased their lead back to 10 as they scored the next two baskets one by Tim Pratt and the second one by Marquel Hoskins (Beloit, Wisconsin, Reedley College) to take a 45-35 lead with 6:02 left on the clock. 

            Cal State LA continued to claw back as Jones' free throw with 1:52 on the clock cut SF State's lead to 48-43, but Tim Pratt's three off an assist from Phoenix O'Rourke sealed the win for the Gators with 1:32 left in regulation. Hoskins went 3 of 4 from in the final 90 seconds to give the Gators a 54-45 victory.

            Pratt led the Gators with 13 points and had 7 rebounds while O'Rourke chipped in 10 points to go along with his three assists and three steals while Hoskins scored 9 points, dished out three assists and recorded a season high 7 steals.

            SF State held the league's leading scorer, Chris Fields, to just four points on 1 of 9 shooting from the field including 0 of 4 from three-point land. Dwayne Jones led the way with a game high 22 points.

            The Gators will continue their four-game road trip this Thursday, January 14 in Hayward, for a 7:30pm scheduled conference game with Cal State East Bay.
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