HAYWARD, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team outlasted Cal State East Bay in the Gators' CCAA opener in an 83-79 overtime victory at Pioneer Gymnasium.

"There's one thing you can't say about our group is that they're not gusty and they don't have a lot of character because they do. Down 19 with 10 to go, not a lot of teams can come back from that against good a defensive team but we really dug deep," said SF State Head Coach Vince Inglima. "The big difference was on the defensive end, we were just everywhere. There were no open shots down the stretch and we made timely shots."

After missing their first three shots, the Gators (4-1/1-0 CCAA) went on a 15-0 run and took a 15-5 lead just five minutes into the night. The Pioneers (1-4/1-2 CCAA) answered with a 10-point run of their own that tied the game with 10:32 to go and Jordan Balser's three-pointer two minutes later gave Cal State East Bay a 21-20 lead. Meanwhile the Gators went just 1-of-8 from behind the three-point line in the first half.

"This is one of those games where not a lot went right for us, other than that first initial run and we went up 15-5," said Inglima. "Credit to Cal State East Bay, they are very intense and physical and it took us a long time to get into a rhythm."

SF State's struggle from deep carried over into the second half, with the Gators going just 1-for-10 from behind the arc. Druce Asah's three-pointer gave the Pioneers an 11-point lead at the 15-minute mark and Patrick Marr's layup with 10:32 to go saw the deficit grow to 59-40. Chiefy Ugbaja scored the Gators' next six points, Michael Diaz followed with a pair of free throws, and Evan Zeller's steal led to a three-point play that cut the lead to single digits, 61-53. Two more Zeller free throws made it a two-possession ballgame. A Juwan Anderson three-point play pushed the Pioneers lead back to nine with under seven minutes to go. Over the next minute and a half, the Gators outscored CSUEB 7-2 at the free throw line. Warren Jackson found Ryne Williams for a corner three and Ugbaja's coast-to-coast layup pulled the Gators to within one, 66-65, with under four minutes to go. Neither team scored over the next few minutes and a pair of Jackson free throws put the Gators ahead with 59 seconds to go. Asah answered with a three-pointer to put the Pioneers up two and a Gators timeout nearly proved costly. Luckily, Jackson came up with a steal and dished ahead to Brantley Bynum, who finished with a monster dunk that sent the game into overtime tied at 69-69.

Bynum hit a three in the Gators' first possession of overtime and SF State never trailed in the final five minutes. The Gators prevented CSUEB from tying the game by fouling to prevent three-point opportunities. A pair of Anderson free throws with five seconds trimmed the Gators lead at one but Zeller hit a pair of free throws to keep it a three-point game. Jackson committed his fifth foul to prevent another game-tying opportunity and it paid off. Anderson made his first free throw but was unable to force a miss on the second and missed iron entirely. Bynum iced the game with a pair of makes with one second remaining.

"Every CCAA game is a grind, start to finish, nobody's going away. We had them on the ropes and they came back, then they had us on the ropes and we came back," said Inglima. "When you go 4-for-20 and come away with a win on the road, you have to be pretty happy."

Ugbaja led the Gators with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds. Zeller finished with 18 points, six steals, and four rebounds. Jackson had 17 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and five steals. Bynum finished with 14 points, seven in overtime, and six rebounds.

The Pioneers, much-improved under new Head Coach Bryan Rooney, who was an assistant coach at SF State during the 2005-06 season, were led by Asah's season-high 23 points. Keshawn Bruner added a dozen points and Marr scored 10 points in the loss.

Up Next
The Gators host Pacific Union (NAIA) in non-conference action on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at sfstategators.com. Be sure to follow @sfstate_mbb for in-game updates.