HAYWARD, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team had its worst offensive outing of the season on Thursday night at Cal State East Bay. After taking No. 14 Chico State to overtime last week, the Gators labored through an 84-49 loss.
- The Gators drop to 11-13 overall and to .471 in CCAA play at 8-9 but remain in sixth place. The Pioneers (9-12), closed the gap between sixth and seventh place at .467 (7-8) in CCAA play, just percentage points out of sixth. The top six teams will converge on Arcata for the CCAA Basketball Tournament, March 3-5.
- The Gators were held to under 50 points for the first time since a Feb. 6, 2016 loss to Cal Poly Pomona.
- The game also marked the first time the Gators have shot less than 30 percent dating back to the NCAA West Regional on March 10, 2017.
- Toby Okwuokei was the team's only player to reach double digit scoring with 11 points. No Gator had more than four points at the half.
- Devon Jackson played a season-high 17 minutes. He scored a career-high eight points and grabbed a career-high three rebounds in the loss.
- Eche Okeke added eight points and Jalen Flanagan had seven points. Jalen Chandler, the team's second leading scorer, was held scoreless.
- While the Gators struggled from the field, it felt like the Pioneers couldn't miss. Cal State East Bay was 47.4 percent (27-of-57) from the field and was 48.3 percent from deep.
- The Pioneers were led by Justin Vigil's career-high 23 points. Tone Patton added 11 points and Josh Dhatt had 10 points.
- Earlier in the day, Sean Orr was named to the 2021-22 Division II Academic All-District® Men's Basketball First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Patton scored the game's first bucket and SF State never led in the contest. The Gators didn't reach 10 points until seven minutes into play when Mikey Robinson, Jr. hit a three-pointer. By then, it was already too late as the Gators trailed by double digits. The Pioneers extended their lead with a 10-1 run over a three-minute span and grew the gap to 26 and the Gators trailed by 28 at the half, 46-18. SF State slowed down the tempo in the second half and got to the free throw line 15 times but shot just 46.7 percent. The Gators went on to be outscored 38-31 in the second half.
San Francisco State will look to bounce back with a quick one-game trip to Southern California to face Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday, February 19. The Toros currently sit in fifth place with a .643 win percentage and are in the midst of a three-game winning streak after a 69-55 win over fourth-place Cal State Monterey Bay. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. and Saturday's game will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_mbb.
