SAN FRANCISCO — Senior Chiefy Ugbaja led San Francisco State with a double-double on Senior Day but the Gators came up short, 87-65, to visiting UC San Diego.
The third-place Tritons (20-7/15-5 CCAA) led wire-to-wire as they made space between themselves and the other teams in the standings. The Golden Gators (16-9/12-8 CCAA) remain in fourth place with two games to go.
- Chiefy Ugbaja led the Gators with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
- Zane Paddon scored 11 points and Jiday Ugbaja added 10 points in the loss.
- UC San Diego shot 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the field while the Gators shot 41.9 percent (26-of-62).
- The Gators shot 38.5 percent compared to the Tritons' 40 percent from deep but UCSD made 12 to SF State's five.
- Christian Bayne led all players with a career-high 31 points for the Tritons. He also had a team-high nine rebounds.
SF State pulled within a point a couple of times but UCSD surged ahead on a 12-1 run that saw the Tritons go 4-for-5 from the floor while the Gators turned the ball over three times and were held to just one field goal attempt. The Gators trailed 35-22.
Chiefy Ugbaja kept the Gators in it with a tipin and a layup. Christian Bayne hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds and
Jiday Ugbaja passed to Williams, who answered with a long three to send the Gators into the locker room down nine.
UCSD pushed the lead to 15 in the first three minutes of the second half. Chiefy Ugbaja and Tyler Jackson converted back-to-back three-point plays to cut the lead to a dozen with 10 minutes to go. The Tritons answered with a 15-7 run that pushed the deficit to 20 and the Gators never recovered.
The Gators finish out the season on the road at Chico State on Thursday, February 28 and at Humboldt State on Saturday, March 2. The first round of the CCAA Championships will take place on Tuesday, March 5 with the seedings yet to be determined. Be sure to follow San Francisco State men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram at @sfstate_mbb.
