SAN FRANCISCO — In a game that endured two power outages, the San Francisco State men's basketball team was upset 81-76 in overtime in the first round of the CCAA Championships on Tuesday night by fifth-seeded Cal State LA.
Tuesday's game was the first CCAA men's playoff game to start and was the last to end. With 9:43 to go in regulation, the game was delayed for nearly 40 minutes when power went out in parts of San Francisco and affected SF State's main campus. Another five-minute outage, combined with 51 fouls along with a technical foul, also prolonged the game. The Gators finish at 18-10 while Cal State LA will face top-seeded Cal Poly Pomona on Friday in the conference semifinal
Gators lead to two but the Gators got a Balser backdoor layup and a defensive stop to head into the break up four.
- Five Gators scored in double digits: Jordan Balser (16), Michael Diaz (13), Chiefy Ugbaja (13), Jiday Ugbaja (10), and Jase Wickliffe (10).
- Senior Ryne Williams played in his 107th game on Tuesday. He finished with eight rebounds, which was tied for the game high with Diaz and CSULA's Ja'Sean Lewis.
- Senior Chiefy Ugbaja had three steals. He finishes as the program leader with 159 career steals.
- Three Gators fouled out: Balser, Jiday Ugbaja and Paddon. Wickliffe had four while two others had three.
- The Gators were held to 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) from deep and were 1-6 on the year when held to 30 percent or less from distance.
- The Golden Eagles had four players in double digits: Shacquille Dawkins (game-high 21), Fard Muhammad (14), Jordan Rogers (11), and Devin Means (10)
- Cal State LA attempted 10 more free throws than the Gators, though SF State shot a higher percentage (78.6 percent, 22-of-28).
The Gators controlled the first half out of the gate, as
Ryne Williams scored on the Gators's first possession. Up 7-4, the Gators pushed the lead to 14-4 with a 7-0 run. The Gators caught CSULA asleep for an easy Balser layup in transition to make and he made a pair of free throws to make it 18-8. However, the Gators went scoreless for nearly two and a half minutes, which allowed the Golden Eagles to climb back into it, 19-14. Jordan Rogers' three-pointer cut the Gators lead to 21-19 but the Gators answered at the other end. Diaz shovel passed to Paddon, who buried the nothing-but-net three with a hand in his face to keep it a two-possession game. The Gators built the lead back up to 26-19 on
Tyler Jackson's lefty finish at the rim. Ja'Sean Lewis' wide-open three cut the Gators lead to two but the Gators got a Balser backdoor layup and a defensive stop to head into the break up four.
The Golden Eagles tied the game at 43-43 with 16:16 to go, which forced a Gators timeout. Still tied at the 11-minute mark, the Golden Eagles had a chance to take the lead but chose a pull-up three in transition. That resulted in a Diaz rebound and the Gators went back ahead on a
Jiday Ugbaja pull-up jumper. Jihad Woods made his first free throw and was in the middle of his second when power went out in San Francisco. He eventually missed his second and the Gators stretched the lead to eight.
Michael Diaz's free throw with 3:56 left kept the Gators up four when the power went out a second time. The Gators led until the final minute when Dawkins scored a layup and drew the foul to put the Golden Eagles up 68-67. The Gators tied it at 70-70 on
Chiefy Ugbaja's layup with nine seconds to go and Dawkins missed a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining in regulation.
With three players already fouled out, the Gators ran out of steam in the extra period and went just 1-for-6 and 0-for-3 from deep. Neither team scored until the three-minute mark when Dawkins picked off an inbounds pass and went the other way for the easy layup. The teams traded points and the Gators had a chance to tie it but Chiefy Ugbaja was whistled for a charge on the block. The Gators fouled on the defensive end, which led to another pair of Golden Eagles free throws. Down four, Ugbaja made a pair of free throws but Dawkins made a pair of his own with 51.9 seconds remaining. Ugbaja went to the line after being fouled on a loose ball to keep the Gators down two but Dawkins hit a long three with 16.7 seconds that put the game out of reach.
