ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team struggled from deep and saw a nine-point second-half lead slip away in a 54-51 loss on Saturday afternoon at Sonoma State inside the Wolves' Den.
- SF State (3-5/1-1 CCAA) held the Seawolves (1-7/1-1 CCAA) to 33.3 percent (18-of-54) but struggled themselves from the field. The Gators had their worst three-point shooting night of the season at 16 percent (4-of-25).
- Eche Okeke led all players with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
- Toby Okwuokei added 12 points in the loss.
- Jalen Flanagan, Okeke, and Sean Orr all shared the team lead with seven rebounds apiece.
- Jaylen Wells led Sonoma State with 14 points. Preston Blakely added nine points.
- Nick Klarman grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for SSU.
- SF State was 5-of-8 from the free throw line but the Seawolves made 15 trips to the charity stripe and made 13.
- The Gators, who have played on the road for the last three weeks, are still without Alex Gilat, Jacob Huynh, and Sam Kramer, who are all nursing injuries.
The game got off to a slow start. Three and a half minutes into play, Okwuokei laid in the game's first basket, then Wesley Gilbert answered for the Seawolves. The Gators fell behind by seven before
Bryson Ryan connected with Okwuokei for another layup. Back-to-back layups from Okeke tied the game at 14-14 with eight minutes to go in the half, and Orr's layup with six and a half minutes gave the Gators the lead. SF State fell behind by four but finished on a 7-0 run to head into the locker room leading 27-24.
Jalen Chandler's three-pointer with 16 and a half minutes to go in regulation gave the Gators their biggest lead of the night at nine. However, the Seawolves went on an 8-0 run. Okeke stopped the bleeding with a layup but Jacob Williams tied the game, then gave the Seawolves the lead at the 11-minute mark with back-to-back threes. With under three minutes remaining, the Gators regained the lead, 51-50, on a Flanagan three-point play. However, Kenny Olsem made a layup to put SSU back up. The Gators had a couple of chances down the stretch but a turnover and an offensive foul proved costly. Blakely made a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game.
"Obviously, it makes it very difficult to win games shooting 4-of-25 from three. That will happen at times when you are playing on the road on a Saturday. But, we can't let that prevent us from executing in the other facets of the game," said Head Coach
Vince Inglima. "After being on the road for three straight weeks, we are looking forward to coming home for next week's Purple Out."
San Francisco State returns home for Purple Out doubleheader on Thursday, December 9. The men tip off at 7:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear purple and the first 300 fans at the doubleheader will receive a free SF State Athletics T-shirt. The game will also be broadcast free on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Beginning in 2022, the CCAA Network will be moving to a subscription-based model at $9.95 per month. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_mbb.
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