LOS ANGELES — The San Francisco State men's basketball team celebrated National Bird Day by knocking off the Cal State LA Golden Eagles 88-79 on Saturday at the Eagles Nest.
The Golden Gators (9-5/5-4 CCAA) handed the Golden Eagles (9-5/5-3 CCAA) their biggest loss of the season. In their prior four losses, the Golden Eagles had lost by a combined nine points.
- SF State shot a season-best 58.8 percent (30-of-51) from the field and a season-best 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from distance.
- The Gators held CSULA to 38.2 percent shooting (26-of-68). SF State is 6-0 when holding a team to under .390.
- The Gators had five players in double digits, the first time dating back to January 19 of last season (an 81-73 win over Cal State East Bay).
- Jiday Ugbaja led the Gators with 19 points, one shy of his career mark. He also had six assists and five rebounds.
- Jase Wickliffe scored a career-high 17 points.
- Matt Arrivas set new career highs with 15 points and nine rebounds. He was 6-of-7 from the field and added an assist and a block.
- Ryne Williams added a dozen points and five rebounds. Jordan Balser scored 10 points with three assists and four rebounds.
- Shacquille Dawkins led Cal State LA with 32 points and had 21 of the team's 36 at the half.
The Gators led early but a 15-0 Golden Eagles run found the Gators playing catch up. Seven minutes in, the Gators trailed 19-8. SF State countered with a 7-0 run to pull within four. Balser added five consecutive points that cut the lead to one point around the eight-minute mark and, after a Miles Ford jumper, Ugbaja tied the game at 23-23 with a three-pointer. From that point, the two teams played tug-of-war for the lead and the Gators took a slight 37-36 lead into halftime.
Cal State LA started the half on a 12-2 run and the Gators trailed by nine again. A Wickliffe three and Niquis Garland layup kept it a two-possession game. A Zane Paddon putback made it a two-point game and the Gators tied it again on a Wickliffe bucket with 13:29 to go. LA went back up by five but the Gators answered. Williams found Brian Nebo for the score and Williams buried a three to it at 55-55. From there, a 19-9 Gators run kept SF State in front for good. Devin Means' three-pointer with 3:14 to go cut the lead to two but back-to-back scores by Williams and Ugbaja pushed the lead back to six, and Wickliffe's second three of the day made it a nine-point lead with 1:04 to go.
San Francisco State returns to Northern California and will head to Sonoma State on Saturday, January 12 for a 3 p.m. contest. Live stats and video will be available, and be sure to follow San Francisco State men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram at @sfstate_mbb.
