SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team had six players score in double digits as the Gators earned an 81-71 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday night in a crucial CCAA matchup.
- The Gators improve to 5-8 overall and sit in sixth place at 3-4 in CCAA play. The Toros fall to 7-6 and sit in fifth place at 4-3 in CCAA action.
- Both teams shot the ball well. Dominguez Hills was 27-of-66 (40.9 percent) from the field while SF State went 28-of-69 (40.6 percent). The Gators were 8-of-26 (30.8 percent) from deep while the Toros shot 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) from beyond the arc.
- Toby Okwuokei led the Gators with 15 points on 7-of-18 shooting, and added seven rebounds.
- Zebaniah Jackson made an instant impact in his Gators debut. The 6-foot-7 transfer scored an and-one in his first field goal attempt and finished with 13 points, including 7-of-7 at the free throw line, and grabbed seven rebounds.
- Sean Orr and Travis August scored 11 points apieice, and Eche Okeke and Jalen Chandler each had 10 points apiece.
- The Gators won the rebounding battle 46-40, led by Okeke's team-high eight rebounds. Orr and Chandler also had seven rebounds apiece, and Flanagan reeled in six.
- Jacob Huynh had five of the team's 15 assists.
- Colten Kresl scored a game-high 22 points in a losing effort for the Toros. Chris Seeley added 16 points and DJ Guest scored 14 points.
SF State jumped out to a 7-0 lead, though the Toros answered with a 12-point run of their own.
Zebaniah Jackson's first field goal resulted in a three-point play and put the Gators back up two at the 12-minute mark. Jackson then drew a charge and August buried a three-ball at the other end to grow the lead to five. The Toros threatened with another run and tied the game at 20-20 on a Seeley dunk. Chandler answered with a dunk of his own and Okwuokei scored the next four points to put the Gators back up by six, and the lead grew to 34-24 by the half.
The Gators grew the lead to as large as 16 early in the second half but saw the lead dwindle to four at the 13-minute mark in the second half. A couple of Gators layups padded the lead but the advantage shrunk to two after a David Cheatom jumper and Guest three-pointer. Orr answered with a big three-pointer inside the eight-minute mark and SF State grew its lead back to double digits over the next three minutes. Dominguez Hills made it a two-possession game with 30 seconds remaining but the Gators went 4-of-6 from the line to secure the win.
"Tonight was probably our most complete game of the season. We defended with purpose and rebounded the ball well," said Head Coach Vince Inglima. "Coming off a tough couple weeks [with games canceled], I am very proud of our effort and execution."
San Francisco State hosts Cal State East Bay (3-9/1-5 CCAA) on Saturday, January 15 at 3 p.m. The Gators have also added a non-conference game versus UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday, January 18 at 7 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_mbb.
