CHICO, Calif. – The visiting San Francisco State men's basketball team posted season highs in field-goal and free-throw percentages on Friday to highlight an uplifting 83-70 victory over Chico State in a California Collegiate Athletic Association showdown at Acker Gymnasium.
The Gators connected on 26 of 47 of their shot attempts from the floor (55.3 percent) and drained 28 of 33 tries from the charity stripe (84.8 percent) to raise their record to 9-6 overall and 7-4 in conference play. Meanwhile with the loss, the Wildcats had their five-game home winning streak snapped, slipping to 8-7 on the season and 5-6 in the CCAA.
“I am very proud of the fact that we were able to perform at such a high level,” said SF State head coach Paul Trevor. “Chico is a great team and this is a really tough place to play, but our guys responded with tremendous energy and enthusiasm.”
Once again, Nefi Perdomo spearheaded the Gator offense, posting a game-high 22 points, including a stellar 15-for-16 effort from the free-throw line, while Marquel Hoskins added 20 points and seven rebounds. Winston Demmin also got into the act, tossing in a season-best 14 points in just 13 minutes off the bench while tying Hoskins for game-high honors with seven boards of his own. Perdomo displayed his ball-handling skills as well, dishing out a career-best eight assists.
Despite four players in double figures, Chico State shot 42.4 percent from the field (25-59) and sank just 57.7 percent of its free throws (15-26). Individually, the Wildcats received 19 points apiece from Jay Flores and Terence Pellum, followed by Roderick Hawkins (15 pts.) and Sean Parks (14 pts.).
The SF State bench outscored Chico's 26-0, while the visitors owned a 25-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Gators, who never trailed in the contest, set the tone early as a layup by Tim Pratt and a 3-pointer by Phoenix O'Rourke sparked a 14-4 blitz to start the game. SF State eventually stretched the margin to 17 as a Demmin dunk put the Purple and Gold up 35-18 at the 3:15 mark.
The Wildcats did not fold, however, as Flores' triple at the buzzer pulled the host school to within 37-31 at intermission, capping a 13-2 run.
Chico inched closer with a Parks jumper in the first minute following the break, but SF State answered with an 18-5 outburst, punctuated by two Perdomo free throws at the 13:08 mark.
Staring down the barrel of a 55-38 deficit, the Wildcats managed to pull within nine points on four occasions over the next eight minutes. However, a Hoskins jumper and an O'Rourke layup restored the Gators' double-digit lead at 72-59 with 4:03 left to play.
O'Rourke's basket proved to be SF State's final field goal of the night, but Chico was unable to capitalize. After a Hawkins layup with 1:46 to go tightened the score at 75-68, the Gators sank all eight of their remaining free-throw attempts, including six by Perdomo and another two by Tyler Brown, to cement the victory.
“We have some great senior leadership on this team, coach Trevor concluded. “Those guys (Hoskins, O'Rourke, Pratt) all came up big tonight as did Perdomo and Demmin.”
SF State, which is now tied for fourth place in the CCAA with Cal State L.A., returns to the court on Saturday, Jan. 22, when it tackles Cal State Stanislaus in another road clash at Turlock, Calif., beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Warriors knocked off Cal State Monterey Bay, 89-72, at home on Friday.
Box Score
