HAYWARD, Calif. — The No. 21-ranked San Francisco State overcame a slow start and won 90-82 in overtime at Cal State East Bay on Saturday.

The nationally-ranked Gators needed late heroics from junior guard Warren Jackson to win their sixth straight and secure a CCAA playoff berth. Jackson, who scored a career-high 31 points and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the line, sank two of those free throws with .9 seconds on the clock that sent the game into overtime at 73-73. Prior to that, Jackson single-handedly kept the Gators within striking distance. Down five with seven minutes to go, Jackson rattled off eight straight Gators points that trimmed the lead to three. After a Pioneers turnover, Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound, which set up Derrick Brown's game-tying three pointer. Drew Bender answered with a three for the Pioneers but Jackson hit a three of his own. Jalen Richard made pair of free throws and followed with a three pointer to put CSUEB back up by five but the Gators countered with their big men. AJ Kahlon grabbed the rebound on his own miss for the putback and Ryne Williams sank a three-pointer to even the game again at 71-71.

Cal State East Bay (12-13/5-12 CCAA) squandered several opportunities to put the game out of reach. The Pioneers scored the first seven points of the game and led 12-1 just over four minutes into play. The Pioneers led 30-16 with 6:42 to go but the Gators finished the first half on a 14-4 run to pull within four, 34-30. Lamine Mbodj missed two free throws that allowed SF State to tie the game with Williams' three, though Dunhour put the Pioneers up 73-71 with four seconds remaining in regulation. However, Juwan Anderson's blocking foul on Jackson proved costly.

SF State outscored the Pioneers 17-9 in overtime and hunkered down on defense, limiting CSUEB to 33.3 percent (3-of-9) in the final five minutes.

Kahlon had his biggest offensive game since November. The senior finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, and a pair of blocks. Chiefy Ugbaja added 11 points and seven rebounds. Four others scored six points apiece.

Drew Bender scored a team-high 19 points off the bench for the Pioneers. Dunhour had 16 points and eight rebounds. Richard added 15 points and eight rebounds.

SF State is in a four-team race for the CCAA regular-season title with UC San Diego (19-5/14-3 CCAA), Sonoma State (17-5/13-3 CCAA), and Chico State (18-6/11-5 CCAA). The Gators guaranteed themselves a playoff spot and can finish no lower than fourth, meaning that they will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 28 with opponent and time to be determined. The top eight teams advance to the CCAA Championships with quarterfinal games hosted by the higher seed. The final two rounds will be played at the Sports Center on the Cal State San Marcos campus.

Up Next
SF State returns home for the final homestand of the regular season. The Gators host Cal State Dominguez Hills (12-10/8-8 CCAA) on Friday, Feb. 17, and Cal State LA on Saturday, Feb. 18. Both games are at 7:30 p.m.