SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team cruised to a 19-0 lead and never looked back thanks to a 26-point night from Jalen Chandler in a 93-45 non-conference win over visiting UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday night at the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- The Gators have now won three straight games and improve to 7-8 overall while UC Santa Cruz slips to 2-13.
- Chandler's 26 points ties the most made by a Gator this season. Toby Okwuokei, who finished with nine points on Tuesday, also put up 26 on November 18 at Regis. Chandler was a perfect 9-of-9 from the field, including 7-of-7 from deep. That's the most three-pointers since Jase Wickliffe's six in January 2019.
- Travis August was 7-of-10 from the field with four three pointers and finished with 18 points.
- Mikey Robinson Jr. added 10 points and a career-high six rebounds.
- John Bakke led the Gators with a career-high seven rebounds.
- Jacob Huynh matched a career-high seven assists and did not commit a turnover. The Gators committed just seven turnovers and forced 21.
- A dozen different Gators scored as SF State shot 49.3 percent (36-of-73) from the field.
- The Gators held their opponent to less than 50 points for the first time since a November 26, 2018 win over Notre Dame de Namur.
- Ian McCloskey led UCSC with nine points.
The Gators defense didn't allow a UC Santa Cruz point until the 11-minute mark and built a 19-point lead despite a slow start offensively themselves. SF State finished the half shooting 51.4 percent (19-of-37) from the field, including a blistering 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from deep. The Gators led by 30 at the half and led by as much as 53 inside the final four minutes.
"I thought we really locked in defensively at the start of the game, which set the tone for us the rest of the way. Then, Jalen Chandler absolutely caught fire from deep! That was fun to watch," said Head Coach Vince Inglima. "After having so many close games, it was nice to put one away early and give everyone a chance to play."
San Francisco State finishes the five-game homestand with a pair of important CCAA contests. On Thursday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m., the Gators take on No. 7 Chico State, then on Saturday, January 20 at 3 p.m. host Stanislaus State. The 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.
