LA JOLLA, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team dropped the first game of its final 2017 road trip on Friday in a 71-60 loss at UC San Diego.
The Gators (7-5/4-3 CCAA) were unable to overcome a slow start in which they shot 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) from the field in the first half.
Evan Zeller made the first bucket of the game but UCSD (7-5/4-2 CCAA) responded on a 9-0 run. The Tritons grew the lead to 20 at the 10-minute mark and took a 45-24 advantage into halftime.
"As a group, we need to find a way to play with passion and energy from the tip. We continue to dig ourselves holes and try to battle back," said SF State Head Coach
Vince Inglima. "That doesn't cut it against top-tier CCAA opponents like UC San Diego."
The deficit grew to as large as 24 in the second half before the Gators pulled back within single digits. A
Michael Diaz corner three-pointer with 12 minutes to go in the game cut the lead to nine, 51-42.
Tyler Jackson's tip-in cut the lead to seven with under five to go but that's as close as the Gators would get.
"I'm proud of our second half effort. We outplayed them for the entire 20 minutes," said Inglima. "But, at some point, we need to make a change in our approach so that we don't find ourselves battling uphill so often."
SF State shot 13-of-28 (46.4 percent) in the second half but the Gators' top two scorers —Zeller and
Warren Jackson — who average 15 points each, were held to a combined seven points and just one in the second half.
Ryne Williams led the team with 13 points.
Brantley Bynum added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Chiefy Ugbaja followed with eight points and
Donavon Taylor scored seven points in his Gators debut.
UCSD's starters did the bulk of the scoring with four in double digits. Christian Oshita led all players with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Christian Bayne added 16 points, Scott Everman had 14 points, and Anthony Ballestero scored 12.
Up Next
The Gators close out the calendar year at Cal State San Marcos for New Year's Eve matinee at 3 p.m. Live stats and video will be provided by the home Cougars. Be sure to follow
@sfstate_mbb for in-game updates.
