SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team saw its losing streak extend to four games on Saturday with a 75-67 loss at second-place Cal State San Bernardino.

By the Numbers

 

• The Gators (8-15/5-11 CCAA) remain in 10th place. The top eight teams will advance to the CCAA Tournament.
• The second-place Coyotes (17-4/12-3 CCAA) maintained a half-game lead on Chico State, who also won on Saturday. The top four teams will host a first-round conference playoff on Tuesday, March 3.
• Zane Paddon led SF State with 15 points on 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) shooting with all seven attempts from deep.
• Jacob Huynh added nine points, also all from long range. He added a team-high four assists.
• Linton Acliese III was held scoreless in the first half. The Gators' leading scorer got into foul trouble and eventually fouled out with three second remaining in the game. He had just one field goal and finished with five points and a team-high eight rebounds.
• Jeremy Smith was one of four CSUSB players in double digits and led all players with 23. Andres Villa added 17 points. Daytone Jennings recorded a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Shea Rax tallied 11 points.

How it Happened

The Gators used the long ball from the get-go. DJ Sylvester gave the Gators an early lead with a three-pointer. Jase Wickliffe hit one of his own inside the 15-minute mark to put the Gators back in front, 10-8. CSUSB answered but Paddon hit his first two threes to give the Gators a six-point advantage. Rax cut the lead in half with a three of his own and followed with an old-fashioned three-point play that tied the game at 21-21 with under eight minutes to go. Wickliffe answered with a three-point play of his own that put the Gators back up by three and a Tyler Jackson layup followed by a Huynh three-pointer built the lead to eight with five minutes to play.

Back-to-back 👌s from @j_h_23 make it an 8⃣ point Gator lead! pic.twitter.com/lE7BZBUzEU

— SF State Men's Basketball (@SFState_MBB) February 1, 2020

However, the Coyotes finished on a 6-0 run over the final two minutes, capped by a Jennings layup that beat the buzzer to tie it at 35-35.

Acliese finally got on the scoreboard with a three of his own to start the second half. Back-to-back threes from Paddon and Huynh at the six-minute mark gave the Gators a double-digit lead, 63-52.
 

.@zpadd0 has 5⃣ of the Gators 1⃣5⃣ threes! The Gators now lead by 8! pic.twitter.com/MaUVk8NJBo

— SF State Men's Basketball (@SFState_MBB) February 2, 2020

From that point though, CSUSB finished on a 23-4 run that wiped away the Gators' lead at the three-minute mark. Villa's layup at the four-minute mark cut the Gators lead to one. Acliese temporarily stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws but the Coyotes answered right back. Smith hit a three-pointer and the Coyotes took the lead on their next trip down on a layup from Jennings. The Gators turned the ball over and CSUSB took advantage with a layup, followed by a pair of free throws to take its largest lead of the game, 70-65, with under two minutes to go. With under a minute to play, the Coyotes got a long offensive rebound after a missed three-point attempt and added on with a pair of free throws.
 

Up Next

The Gators will look to get back on track next week, on Saturday, February 8 at last-place Sonoma State (3-18/2-14 CCAA). The game will be streamed on the CCAA Network and live stats will also be available at sfstategators.com.