SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team wrapped up the 2021 SF State Tip-Off Classic with its first win of the season, 68-57, over Dominican on Sunday afternoon inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- The Gators have won their last seven meetings with the Penguins dating back to 2013.
- Toby Okwuokei led the Gators with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds, two assists, and three steals.
- Jalen Flanagan tallied a double-double with career-highs of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jalen Chandler added 12 points in the win.
- Jorden Josephs scored a game-high 22 points and a team-high 11 rebounds in the loss. Former Gator Michael Diaz, now a grad student at Dominican, added 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting.
- The Gators won the rebounding battle 43-40 and had 17 on the offensive end, leading to 20 second chance points.
- Neither team shot particularly well. The Gators held a slight advantage at 32.9 percent (25-of-76) compared to 32.1 percent (18-of-56) by the Penguins.
- Academy of Art bested Sonoma State 78-74 in overtime in the first game of the day and went 2-0 in the Tip-Off Classic.
- The All-Tournament was comprised of MVP Christian Popoola and Latrell Williams of ART U, Adam Parker of Dominican, and SF State's Okuokei and Chandler.
The two teams traded the lead for the first five minutes but the Gators look the lead on a second-chance three-point play from
Eche Okeke and never looked back. Okwuokei added a three-pointer and a driving layup to push the lead to 14-7.
Sam Kramer added a free throw and Okwuokei buried another three to make it 18-7 with 12 minutes to go in the half. Flanagan's layup with under a minute and a half to go grew the lead to 16 and the Gators led by 13 at intermission.
With the lead trimmed to seven at the 15-minute mark in the second half,
Travis August pushed the lead back to double digits with back-to-back threes. The Penguins cut the lead to seven yet again at the eight-minute mark but Chandler added five straight points and Okwuokei threw down a dunk to push the lead back to 14 and the Gators cruised from there.
"The guys really responded well after a pretty disappointing effort on Saturday. Although we did not shoot it well today, we controlled the game on the defensive end and on the glass," said Head Coach
Vince Inglima. "This was a good step forward as we continue to grow as a unit."
SF State heads to Colorado for their next two games against Regis on Thursday, November 18 and at MSU Denver on Saturday, November 20. Both games will be broadcast on the
RMAC 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.
