SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team won its opener on Saturday afternoon with an 81-76 win over visiting Regis inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- The Gators (2-1) now split their all-time meetings with Regis (1-2) after the Gators dropped a three-point decision last season.
- SF State shot 53.4 percent (31-of-58) from the field, the program's highest mark since a one-point win at Cal State LA on December 5, 2019 (53.6 percent).
- Each team had four starters in double digits.
- Caleb Oden led all players with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Jonah Roth recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Toby Okwuokei and Eche Okeke each poured in 13 points.
- David Simental led the Rangers with 17 points. Aaaron Bokol scored 14 points, Eddy Egun had 13 points, and Aidan Sevilla had a dozen. Bokol had a double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds.
- The Gators won the rebounding battle, 35-28.
The teams traded blows early on and Regis took on a six-point lead a quarter into the game on a Chase Mayo Harmon layup. With just over three minutes to go in the half, the Gators pulled to within one on back-to-back buckets from
John Bakke and tied the game at 28-28 on the front-end of two free throws from Oden. An Okwuokei steal led to a fast break layup for Roth and the Gators took a 30-28 lead. The Rangers answered with an Egun three-pointer and pushed the lead back to three with a pair of CJ Reed free throws. Okwuokei beat the buzzer with a jumper to send the Gators into halftime down one, 33-32.
Oden opened the second half with a go-ahead layup but the Rangers countered with another three. Four minutes into the half, Roth gave SF State a three-point lead with a long ball from Okeke. The lead jumped back and back over the next several minutes until the Gators took the lead under the seven-minute mark on a Flanagan jumper. SF State built the lead to five, then used a six-point run to stake an 11-point lead, the Gators' largest lead of the night. SF State led by no fewer than four the rest of the way.
"The preseason is about growth, and we showed that today. We executed and made adjustments very well throughout the game," said Head Coach
Vince Inglima. "I thought we really played to our strengths today."
The Gators host Pacific Union in a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday, November 22. The doubleheader will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. In-game updates will also available on Twitter at @sfstate_mbb, pending platform availability. Tickets are available at sfstategators.com/tickets.
Mark your calendars for Purple Out on Thursday, December 1 when the Gators open CCAA action versus Cal State San Bernardino. The first 500 fans that night will receive a purple SF State T-shirt.
