SAN MARCOS, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team climbed back from a 14-point deficit for an 89-88 triple overtime victory over Cal State San Marcos on Saturday evening at the Sports Center.
- It was a signature win for the Gators, who moved back to .500 overall as well as conference play at 3-3/1-1 CCAA. The Cougars slipped to 4-4 and 0-3 in CCAA action. The game was also reminiscent of the two teams' CCAA Championships first round game in 2018, a game the Gators won 69-66 in double overtime.
- Linton Acliese III recorded a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds but fouled out in double overtime on an offensive foul call.
- Michael Diaz also recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs.
- Saturday marked the first time since December 12, 2015 that the Gators have had two players with double-doubles. That night, in an 85-80 overtime loss at Humboldt State, Coley Apsay went for 23 points and 10 rebounds and Floyd Wormley recorded 16 points and 10 rebounds.
- Eche Okeke added 11 points, the second time the redshirt freshman has reached double digits.
- Jacob Huynh sparked the Gators in the second half and left the game at the 12-minute mark due to injury. He finished with a career-high 10 points.
- The Cougars' Alex Gil-Fernandez and Darae Elliott both fouled out in the first overtime period.
- Both teams had four players in double digits. CSUSM's Darius Goudeau led all players with 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting.
The Gators fell behind 5-0 early before going ahead on a 6-0 run capped by
Tyler Jackson's layup inside the 16-minute mark. SF State didn't score for over four and a half minutes but still only trailed by three. Then, the Cougars added on and increased their lead to 10 and as much as 14 in the first half. The Gators trailed 36-25 at intermission.
SF State chipped started on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 38-38. The Cougars regained the lead with a three-pointer but Diaz answered with another three to knot it again at 41-41. The Gators went down five but tied it again at 46-46 on an Acliese three-point play. Neither team led by more than three until the 4:32 mark when Jase Wickliffe followed a Diaz layup with a layup that put the Gators up five. Still the Cougars fought back and tied the game at the two-minute mark on an Elliott layup. Acliese laid one in but Gil-Fernandez answered with another layup with 29.2 seconds remaining. Gil-Fernandez was fouled on the play but missed the free throw. Acliese reeled in the rebound, which set up one final possession for the Gators but they couldn't get it to fall in time, with a shot at the buzzer waived off and verified by replay.
Despite not making a field goal in the first overtime period, SF State stayed in the game thanks to 9-of-10 free throw shooting. With 15.1 seconds to go, an off-ball foul in the post by Elliott was his fifth. That sent Balser to the line. Balser made his first attempt but his only missed free throw allowed Cal State San Marcos another look. The Cougars called timeout with 9.1 seconds remaining but the Gators came away with the stop to force double overtime.
Down two, Acliese was whistled for an offensive foul with 3:36 left in the period, leaving the Gators without their leading scorer. A few trips later, the Gators tied it at 74-74 on an Okeke putback and DJ Sylvester's shot in the lane gave the Gators the lead with just over a minute to go. SF State forced a turnover at the other end and appeared to have the game locked up. With 38.7 seconds to go, Balser made both of his free throws to put the Gators up four. However, Goudeau hit a three-pointer in front of the Cougars bench to cut the lead to one. The Cougars fouled and the Gators didn't convert the opportunity, then Goudeau tied the game at 79-79 with another jumper. Diaz's three-pointer from the left side didn't fall and the game headed to triple overtime.
The teams traded leads then saw three ties. Goudeau put the Cougars up two with 1:05 to go but Zane Paddon answered with his second three-pointer of the period to put the Gators up 89-88 with under a minute to go. Coming over on help defense, Diaz drew a charge on the left block with 34.5 seconds remaining. Balser dribbled the clock down and took a shot with the shot clock expiring that was off right but nobody came up with the long rebound as time expired.
The Gators return to San Francisco for their first two home games of the season. They'll host the Gator Gobble on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30. On Friday, SF State takes on Western Oregon and on Saturday will face Concordia (Ore.). Both games will be at 7 p.m. All four games of the Gator Gobble will be streamed for free on the CCAA Network. Live stats will also be available at sfstategators.com.
