SEASIDE, Calif. – The San Francisco State men's basketball team's losing streak stretched to five after a 73-52 loss to Cal State Monterey Bay on Monday afternoon at the Kelp Bed.
- The Gators started off 4-2 on the season but have dropped their last five games, all in CCAA action and are the only CCAA program still in search of a conference win. The Otters improve to 3-6 overall and notched their first CCAA win to move to 1-3.
- John Bakke and Eche Okeke led the Gators with 10 points apiece. Toby Okwuokei added nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.
- CSUMB's Joe Wall, a transfer from Seattle University, led all players with 28 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Archie added 16 points and Levi Frankland finished with 11 points.
- Rebounding continued to be a bright spot for the Gators, who outrebounded the Otters 50-39.
- SF State also had one fewer turnover than CSUMB, 19-18.
- The Gators shot just 25.4 percent (18-of-71) from the field. The Otters shot 47.4 percent (27-of-57) for the game, including better than 50 percent in the second half. That also resulted in a season-low four assists for the Gators.
- SF State led at the half in large part to 13-of-15 free throw shooting. The second half was a much different story though, and the Gators got to the line just five times and only made just one try.
A slow first half for both teams saw little scoring. Archie gave CSUMB a 4-3 lead with 17:23 to go, then the teams went nearly three minutes without scoring before Okwuokei gave SF State a lead with a jumper at 14:42. The Gators lead grew to as large as six and SF State remained ahead until the four-minute mark when Franklin capped off a seven-point run with five straight points for a 21-20 Otters lead. The Gators claimed a 30-29 halftime lead thanks to
CJ Bellamy's jumper with five seconds to go.
The Otters came out swinging in the second half and knocked down three quick three-pointers that propelled an 11-2 run over the first five minutes of the half. The Gators trailed by seven with five minutes remaining but the Otters put things out of reach by finishing on a 16-2 run.
The Gators now host Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday, December 31 at 3 p.m. as part of a women's and men's doubleheader. The game 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.
