SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco State men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza on Saturday, falling 96-89 in triple overtime.
- The Gators fall to .500 at 4-4 and 0-2 in CCAA action while the Broncos move to 5-1 overall and a share of first place in the CCAA at 2-0.
- Jalen Flanagan led the Gators with a season-high 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting. John Bakke came off the bench for a career-high 19 points to go with eight rebounds and five steals. Toby Okwuokei added 15 points and nine rebounds, and Eche Okeke had 14 points, 10 of which came at the free throw line, and nine rebounds.
- Christopher Mitchell led all players with 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting and made it a double-double with 11 rebounds. Derrick Claxton added a dozen points and Chris Gayles Jr. added 11 points.
- Both teams were impacted by foul trouble. Okwuokei and CJ Bellamy both fouled out for the Gators, and Flanagan had four fouls. Shyheim Parm and Claxton both fouled out for the Broncos, and Mitchell avoided fouling out despite picking up his fourth foul in the final minute of regulation.
- The Gators won the rebounding battle 47-40.
- SF State honored its 2016-17 team at halftime as seven members of the team returned as part of Alumni Night: Coley Apsay, Nick Calcaterra, Israel Hakim, AJ Kahlon, Jash Kahlon, Ryne Williams, and Jase Wickliffe.
The Gators trailed by as much as eight in the first half and were down 30-24 at the half but chipped away quickly in the second half.
Jonah Roth threw down a dunk and Bakke drained four consecutive free throws to tie the game at 30-30.
The Broncos retook the lead with a pair of Caleb Nelson free throws but the Gators went ahead on the backend of Okeke free throws. The lead exchanged hands the rest of the half, with the Gators taking a eight-point lead on back-to-back Flanagan drives. The Broncos erased the lead and tied the game at 60-60 on a pair of Bam Johnson free throws with 18 seconds to go.
Flanagan gave the Gators a 62-60 lead with a putback to open overtime scoring and kept SF State ahead with a floater. A
Caleb Oden three-pointer kept the Gators up four with 1:11 to go but back-to-back CPP buckets tied the game with 27 seconds to go and forced a second overtime.
Roth knocked down a pair of free throws but Gayles answered with a three-pointer for the Broncos lead. Okwuokei connected with Bakke for a layup and made a free throw on the next possession to put the Gators back up two. SF State went back up four but Okwuokei fouled Gayles on a three-point attempt with seven seconds left. Gayles made the first free throw but missed the next two but Jaden Winfield got the offensive rebound and Malachi Murrell hit a three-pointer with three seconds left. The Gators pushed the ball up and Oden made a layup that was called good but was waived off upon video review.
SF State went up to start the third overtime on Flanagan's layup. Okeke kept the Gators ahead with a layup at the 3:30 mark but Johnson dished to Mitchell for a three-pointer that gave the Broncos a 90-89 lead and the Gators ran out of steam after that. CPP put the game out of reach with six free throws.
The Gators next head to Southern California to take on Cal State San Marcos (2-5/2-1 CCAA) and Cal State LA (4-5/1-2 CCAA). Both games 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.
