SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team got back in the win column in a big way on Saturday with an 82-51 victory over Sonoma State inside the main gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- The 31-point wire-to-wire victory snapped a six-game losing streak and moves the Gators past Humboldt State, who faces No. 6 UC San Diego later tonight, and into 10th place.
- The margin of victory is the most since defeating Pacific Union by 32 in December 2018. It's the most versus a Division II opponent since the Gators beat Academy of Art by 37 to begin the 2018-19 season.
- DJ Sylvester led all players with a career-high 18 points. He was 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep.
- Linton Acliese added 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and grabbed five rebounds.
- Tyler Jackson led all players with a career-high 13 rebounds as he led SF State to a 37-22 rebounding advantage.
- The Gators forced 17 turnovers and converted them into 24 points.
- SF State's bench contributed 33 points in the victory.
After being plagued by slow starts, the Gators jumped on the Seawolves (3-12/2-8 CCAA) as five different Gators scored en route to a 19-2 start in the first seven minutes. Zane Paddon knocked down back-to-back threes and a couple of Sylvester free throws with 8:45 to go grew the lead to 27-4.
Michael Diaz's three-pointer a couple of minutes later made it 30-4 and the Gators cruised to a 35-12 halftime lead. The Gators held Sonoma State to 4-of-24 (16.7 percent) shooting in the half, including just 1-of-7 from deep.
The offense didn't miss a beat in the second half either as the Gators put up 47 points in the half. They did so on 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) shooting and made 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) three-pointers in the second half. Sylvester's third three of the day came in front of the SF State bench gave him his career-high with 11 minutes to go and put the Gators up 29.
The sizable lead allowed Head Coach
Vince Inglima to get everyone involved.
Unselfish play by the Gators opened up the floor and led to a season-high 21 assists, the most since dishing out 22 in a win versus the Seawolves last January 12. The lead grew to as large as 33 late.
The Gators hit the road for both games next week. On Thursday, January 16, they'll head to Cal State East Bay, then head south to Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday, January 18. Both games will be streamed on the CCAA Network and live stats will also be available at sfstategators.com.
