SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco State men's basketball team dropped its CCAA opener on Thursday, falling 76-66 to No. 15 Cal State San Bernardino in front of a big crowd on the team's annual Purple Out Night inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- The Gators fall to 4-3 while the nationally-ranked Yotes improve to 6-1.
- Eche Okeke and John Bakke each scored a team-high 12 points.
- Caleb Oden, Jalen Flanagan, and Toby Okwuokei all added nine points apiece. Thursday marked the first time this season that Okwuokei hasn't reached double digits, snapping a six-game streak for the senior guard.
- The Gators shot just 39.4 percent (26-of-66) from the field and had their worst performance of the season at the free throw line, where they went just 45 percent (9-of-20).
- CSUSB won the rebounding battle 46-33.
The Gators struck first but the Yotes grabbed an early lead as well. Oden gave the Gators the lead again, 7-6, with a corner three but was whistled for flopping, which allowed CSUSB to tied the game on a free throw. The game remained within two points either way until the nine-minute mark when a Mahmoud Fofana and-one put the Yotes up three. Two minutes later, their lead grew to five on Knapper's turn around jumper. The deficit grew to seven and the Gators headed into the half down 34-29.
The Gators opened the second half with an uncontested dunk from Okeke and a three from Roth that tied it at 34-34.
The Yotes answered with the next five points but the Gators kept things close by working the ball inside to Bakke, who scored six points in the paint to keep it a two-point game. CSUSB answered with another five-point run and a couple of minutes later, Okeke recorded his fourth foul as CSUSB registered a 54-45 lead. The deficit ballooned to as large as 18 but the Gators cut the down to seven before finishing out down 10.
"San Bernardino is a very talented, physical, athletic team and I tip the cap to them. That being said, we had our opportunities and you just don't beat really good teams shooting poorly and missing free throws and we did both of those tonight," said Head Coach
Vince Inglima. "We battled, we took care of the ball against a physical and defensive team, that's a positive. They just wore down in the middle of the second half and it broke our momentum. That's a lesson to be learned. Now we know where the bar is."
The Gators host Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday, December 3 at 3 p.m. in the second part of a women's-men's doubleheader. At halftime of the men's game, the Gators will honor the members of the 2016-17 squad in attendance. That team went 25-6 and earned a berth to the NCAA Division II West Regional that season. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will also be hosting a canned food drive. Saturday's 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.
