SAN FRANCISCO — Jordan Balser's career-high 31 points powered San Francisco State to a 70-68 victory over visiting Sonoma State on Saturday at the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
The victory was crucial for the Gators (14-7/10-6 CCAA) to keep pace in the conference standings. The Gators are in sole possession of fourth place behind Cal State East Bay (13-4), #16 UC San Diego (12-4), and RV Cal Poly Pomona (11-5).
- Balser went 12-of-15 (80 percent) from the field and was 4-of-5 (80 percent) from deep.
- Chiefy Ugbaja tied and moved into second all-time on the Gators' career steals list. He passed Phoenix O'Rouke (2007-11) and is now just seven shy of tying the program mark set by Nefi Perdomo (2009-14).
- Saturday marked the 100th career game for Ryne Williams.
- Williams and Chiefy Ugbaja each added nine points apiece in the win.
- The Gators have won their last nine meetings with the Seawolves dating back to 2016.
- Jordan Hickman led Sonoma State (7-13/5-11 CCAA) with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
Jordan Balser was lights out in the first half and single-handedly kept the Gators in the game the first half. He went for 22 points, including the team's first seven, on 8-of-9 with four three-pointers but the rest of his teammates combined for just 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from the field.
SF State went up 15-6 and forced a Sonoma State timeout at 15:50. Jordan Hickman powered a 9-0 Seawolves run with six points that gave SSU the lead, 28-26, with 5:25 to go. SF State tied it back up on a
Zane Paddon layup, then regained the lead with a pair of Balser free throws and his fourth three-pointer, which pushed the lead back to five.
The Gators led by three but went scoreless the final two minutes as the Seawolves closed the half on a 5-0 run that saw the Gators lead slip away yet again.
Jase Wickliffe tied the game with a dunk but the Seawolves answered with a five-point run. Trailing by one after a
Tyler Jackson layup,
Chiefy Ugbaja's steal — which moved him into sole possession of second place on the program all-time steals list — and layup put the Gators up one.
A Williams three-pointer capped the 11-0 run and gave the Gators a 56-48 advantage with 11 to play. Nearly as quickly, the Seawolves cut the lead to two, which forced Gators Head Coach
Vince Inglima to call timeout with 8:16 to play.
Balser answered the Seawolves shot-for-shot two times down the court. Lewayne Grant put the Seawolves up with a layup but
Chiefy Ugbaja's second-chance layup tied it at 65-65. Nick Klarman's three-pointer from the left side put the Seawolves up three.
Chiefy Ugbaja made a free throw and
Jiday Ugbaja's layup with the shot clock winding down knotted the game at 68 with three minutes to play. The Gators got a couple of big stops and called timeout with possession and 53.0 seconds remaining. With time expiring on the shot clock, Balser's fadeaway jumper from the right baseline put the Gators up two with 7.5 seconds to play.
With a foul to give, the Gators intentionally fouled with 2.7 seconds to go. The strategy paid off as the Seawolves didn't even get an attempt off in time.
The Gators hit the road for the next two games. They have a Valentine's Day matchup at Cal State Bay on Thursday, February 14 at 7:30 p.m., then head to Cal State Monterey Bay that Saturday afternoon. Be sure to follow San Francisco State men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram at @sfstate_mbb.
