SAN FRANCISCO –The San Francisco State men's basketball team continued its hot shooting on Saturday as three players reached double-digit point totals in a 78-60 victory over UC San Diego at the Main Gymnasium.
The Gators (5-1, 3-0 California Collegiate Athletic Association) shot 54.9 percent on 28 of 51 field-goal attempts en route to their fifth straight victory.
Nefi Perdomo led all players with 16 points, while
Tim Pratt went 6-for-7 from the field, draining all three of his 3-point tries to finish with a 15-point performance. In addition
Marquel Hoskins tallied 10 points of his own to go along with a team-high seven rebounds, while
Ralph Nevarez added nine points and a game-best four steals.
Conversely, the Tritons (5-3, 0-2 CCAA) were paced by Casey Ryan, who notched a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Ryan Wheeler added 14 points, including a 8-for-8 effort from the free-throw line in the loss.
“I liked that we were able to set the tone for the game early on,” said SF State head coach
Paul Trevor. “We were a little sloppy in the second half, but we recovered well. Kudos should also go out for all-round performances by Ralph (Nevarez) and
Matt Fochtman in the interior.”
Although the Tritons owned a 28-16 advantage in free throws made, the Gators limited their adversary to a 40.5 field-goal percentage on 15 of 37 attempts and committed seven fewer turnovers (19-12).
SF State led by as many as 21 points in the first half, including a 34-13 spread after a Hoskins layup at the 4:04 mark, which punctuated a 25-8 flurry over a 10-minute span. UCSD trimmed the deficit to 16 at 35-19 on a Ryan jumper with 2:40 left before intermission. However, the Gators responded with a
Tyler Brown layup and a Fochtman foul shot to give the contest its halftime score of 38-19.
Although SF State was outscored 41-40 in the second half, the Tritons could not string together a sizeable run to pull themselves back into contention. UCSD did narrow the gap to 13 at 59-46 following a pair of Wheeler free throws at the 9:42 mark, but the Gators quickly responded with a 3-pointer by
Phoenix O'Rourke, two Hoskins foul shots and a Perdomo basket to reclaim a commanding 20-point advantage at 66-46 with 7:47 to go in the game. The Purple and Gold successfully kept the Tritons at bay for the rest of the game, never letting the lead slip below 16 points.
As a team, SF State is now shooting 49.0 percent from the field for the season, including a 39.3 percent clip from beyond the 3-point arc.
“We have a lot of unselfish players,” Trevor said. “We share the ball extremely well and we make a lot of good shots in transition.”
The Gators will play one last game before the holiday break when they step out of conference to tackle Division I Nevada on Saturday, Dec. 11. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev.
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