SAN FRANCISCO.--- The visiting Cal State LA Golden Eagles rallied from a 7-point deficit with four minutes left in regulation to defeat the Gators 85-80 in overtime. The trio of David Norris, Franklin Session, and Leland Jones combined for 49 of the Golden Eagles points to key the comeback victory.
“We don't know how to win,” said SF State Head Coach Paul Trevor. “We need to learn how to win the big games,” added Trevor. “We got away from our approach during the game and committed too many turnovers.” “Give our guys credit as we did play hard, but we lost our mental toughness towards the end.”
The first half was evenly match with five ties with the Gators (7-5, 5-3 CCAA) ending the final five minutes of the half on a 11-2 run to take a 37-28 lead into the locker room on a Matt Fochtman lay-up.
SF State continued its run in the beginning of the second stanza as the hosts increased their lead to 11 (46-35) in the first six minutes. The Golden Eagles cut SF State's lead to 56-52 with 6:49 to go on a three-point play by Carl Hoffman. Phoenix O'Rourke (San Mateo, California, Junipero Serra)hit a three for the Gators to increase their lead back to 59-52 on their next possession with 4:38 to go.
David Norris' three capped a 11-4 run by the Golden Eagles to give them their first lead of the half (63-61) with just 2:48 left on the clock. On the Gators' next possession, O'Rourke hit another three to give SF State a 66-64 lead with 2:31 to go in regulation. Cal State LA would not give up as Franklin Session made a lay-up to tie the game at 66-66 with 1:45 to go, but the Gators retook the lead on a three by Nefi Perdomo (Oakland, California, Skyline )with 80 seconds to go, 69-66.
Norris came up big against the visitors as he knocked down another triple to tie the game at 69-69. SF State had the ball on the final possession of the second half, but Marquel Hoskins (Beloit, Wisconsin, Reedley College)three fell short to send the game into overtime.
In the overtime, the Gators took their only lead of the extra session on two made free throws by Hoskins forty seconds into the overtime period, 71-69. Cal State LA (10-2, 6-2 CCAA) scored the next six points to take a 77-71 lead with two minutes to go and never let go of the lead.
Hoskins' three with 44 seconds to go, cut the lead to 81-78 but the Golden Eagles connected on all of four of their attempts from the charity stripe to hold on for the 85-80 come-from-behind conference victory.
Norris finished with 26 points for the Golden Eagles on 9 of 16 shooting from the field including 4 of 7 from three-point land while Session added 22 points and Jones chipped in 11.
Perdomo paced the hosts with 21 points while Hoskins chipped in 18 and O'Rourke added 10. Hoskins and
Tim Pratt (Eureka, California, College of the Redwoods)each had a team high 7 rebounds for the Gators while O'Rourke had four assists to go along with his 10 points and 5 rebounds.
SF State will commence on a four-game road trip this Thursday, January 13 in Rohnert Park for a
7:30pm conference game with Sonoma State.
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