LA JOLLA, Calif. — The No. 22 San Francisco State men's basketball team saw its storybook season come to an end on Friday in a 71-50 loss to No. 13 California Baptist in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament.

The Lancers (26-4), who slipped to the fourth seed after back-to-back losses, started sluggish but caught fire. The Gators (25-6) opened the game with an 8-2 advantage but the Lancers countered with a 12-point run. The Gators pulled to within a point on Hakim Israel's fatsbreak layup at the three-minute mark and trailed 29-25 at the half. The Lancers began the second half on a 9-2 run to take a 38-27 lead and the Gators never pulled closer than 10.

SF State lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Gators were limited to season-lows of 50 points and 29.1 percent (16-of-55) from the field. The team entered the game shooting 39.6 percent from deep but went just 4-of-24 (16.7 percent) from behind the arc, including 1-of-12 (8.33 percent) in the second half.

The Lancers, led by former Gator Rick Croy, shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) from the field and forced 14 Gators turnovers. Michael Smith led all players with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Kalidou Diouf added 13 points. Jason Todd pulled down 14 rebounds.
 

Junior guard Warren Jackson led the Gators with 12 points. Senior center AJ Kahlon added nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds in the loss. Senior guards Nick Calcaterra and Derrick Brown, and redshirt sophomore guard Chiefy Ugbaja all scored six points apiece.

Despite the loss, it was a banner season for the Gators, who reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993-94. SF State appeared in the NABC poll in all but two weeks of the season, reaching as high as No. 13. The Gators, who finished second in the CCAA and advanced to the CCAA Tournament Championship, had four players selected to the All-CCAA Team: Jackson and senior guard Coley Apsay were named to the First Team, AJ Kahlon was named to the Second Team, and senior guard Nick Calcaterra garnered Honorable Mention. Seventh-year Head Coach Paul Trevor reached the 100-win mark in a win over then-No. 20 Chico State and was the fastest coach in program history to do so. SF State won 25 games and went 13-1 at home. The 25 wins were the most in the modern era and the most since the 1939-40 season.