SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team got off to a slow start and never recovered in a 77-73 loss to Academy of Art in both team's 2021-22 season opener on Saturday afternoon inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.

By the Numbers

• Jalen Chandler led the Gators with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting.
• Eche Okeke added 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
• Jalen Flanagan and Travis August added eight points apiece in the loss.
• Christian Popoola led all players with 24 points, including 10-for-10 at the charity stripe, for the Urban Knights. Latrell Williams led all players with 11 rebounds.
• The Gators won the rebounding battle 39-33.
• SF State shot 40.3 percent (26-of-67) from the field, and just 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from deep.
• The Urban Knights were slightly better from the field at 40.9 (27-of-66) and also struggled from deep at 24 percent (6-of-25).

How it Happened

After Okeke made a pair of free throws, the Gators missed their first 10 field goals and found themselves in a 9-2 hole. The Gators worked their way back into the game and tied the score at 11-11 on a Chandler transition three. The game remained tight throughout the first half. The Gators trailed by five but and an August bucket followed by a three-point play evened the score at 31-31, then Sean Orr had three-point play to put the Gators up a possession. SF State was held scoreless the final two minutes of the half and ART U took a 40-37 lead into the locker room.

ART U opened the second half on a 10-2 run and the Gators found themselves in an 11-point hole with a 15 and a half minutes to go. The Gators trailed by nine with six minutes to go but but went on an 7-0 run to cut the lead to two. Okeke tied the game at 70-70 with 2:23 to go but missed the back-end free throw that would have given SF State the lead. The Urban Knights led for good after Klay Brown hit a contested three-pointer in the far corner.
 

Chandler with the dunk! pic.twitter.com/e8T2H8MFcx

— SF State Men's Basketball (@SFState_MBB) November 13, 2021

 

Quotables

"We didn't shoot the ball and we were right there in a position to win," said Head Coach Vince Inglima. "It's a quick turnaround so we'll regroup for Dominican on Sunday."
 

Up Next

The final day of the San Francisco State Tip-Off Classic concludes on Sunday, November 14 featuring Academy of Art, Dominican, and Sonoma State. Sonoma State and ART U tip off at 2 p.m. followed by the Gators and Dominican at 4 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Live updates will also be provided on the SF State Men's Basketball Twitter account, @sfstate_mbb.