SAN MARCOS, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team needed double overtime but came away with a thrilling 69-66 victory at Cal State San Marcos in the first round of the CCAA Men's Basketball Championships on Tuesday at the Sports Center.
The fifth-seeded Gators (19-10) and produced the only upset of the night over the fourth-seeded Cougars (20-9), who have now suffered seven of their nine losses at home.
Trailing by six in the second half,
Evan Zeller began to heat up.
Jase Wickliffe found Zeller for a three-pointer, then Zeller followed with a layup. Ethan Alvano answered with a three of his own but Zeller came down and drained back-to-back threes to give the Gators a 33-30 lead. A 6-0 Cougars lead swung the lead back into the hands of the home team but the Gators answered yet again and another Zeller three with 2:35 to go tied it at 53-53. Regulation ended at 57-57.
In overtime, the two teams traded three-pointers and layups. Neither team scored over the final 2:40 of the period. With 20 seconds left, Alvano went one-on-one versus
Warren Jackson but the All-American came away with the big defensive stop and the rebound. Zeller's three to win it didn't fall.
In double overtime, the teams traded layups, then Zeller hit his eventual game-winner. The sharpshooter's final three of the night put the Gators up for good with 1:47 left. Joe Boyd's wide open layup with 5.9 seconds remaining made it a one-point ballgame. The Cougars fouled Jackson on the inbounds and the senior sank both free throws to make it a three-point game. The Cougars got the ball to Alvano but his three-point attempt from just past midcourt didn't fall.
The Gators overcame a poor first half of shooting in which they shot just 22.9 percent (8-of-35) and headed into the locker room trailing 25-22. The Gators improved in the second half but posted their worst shooting performance of the season (33.3 percent, 26-of-78).
Zeller scored a career-high 29 points with a career-high eight three pointers on 57.1 percent from deep.
Brantley Bynum, who was named CCAA Player of the Week for the third time and is
nominated for HERO Sports HERO of the Week, added 18 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds. Jackson added eight points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
Jash Kahlon also reached double digit rebounding with 11. As a team, SF State outrebounded CSUSM 56-44.
Spiers led CSUSM with 17 points. Alvano added 16 points and Boyd had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.
Up Next
The Gators will head to Pomona, California for the CCAA Championships Semifinals on Friday, March 2. SF State will face this year's host, top-seeded Cal Poly Pomona at 12:05 p.m. The Broncos won their first-round game 73-60 over Cal State Dominguez Hills. Live stats and video will be provided by the Broncos and the CCAA, and be sure to follow
@sfstate_mbb on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates.
