CARSON, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team earned another tough road win with a 78-75 overtime victory at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday afternoon.
- SF State improves to 7-9 overall and to 3-7 in CCAA action. The Toros drop to .500 (8-8) and slipped a spot in the CCAA standings to 4-6.
- Eche Okeke had another strong game with a game-high 20 points, which matched a season high. He and his fellow seniors combined for 48 points, with Jalen Flanagan pouring in 16 points and Toby Okwuokei adding with a dozen. Jonah Roth drained four three-pointers and finished with 14 points.
- Okeke and Flanagan led the Gators with seven rebounds apiece.
- The Toros also had four players in double digits. Eric Watson led CSUDH with 14 points, DJ Guest had 13, and Jordan Hilstock and Andre Ball each finished with 12 points.
- The Gators held CSUDH to 35.2 percent (25-of-71) for the game, and held the Toros to just one field goal over their final nine attempts.
After opening the game with a turnover, Okeke picked up where he left off from Thursday with a score on SF State's second possession. The two teams traded the lead over the next 10 minutes. The Gators took a five-point lead on an Okwuokei layup and Roth three-pointer, and pushed it to seven at the three-minute mark when Okeke followed his own miss. The Toros answered with a 7-0 run that tied the game at 33-33.
CJ Bellamy's three-pointer at the minute-mark helped send the Gators into the locker room with a 36-33 lead.
The Gators got a couple of a stops to begin the second half and converted at the other end to push their lead to seven. The Toros countered with an 8-0 run that gave them a 51-50 lead, but the Gators regained the lead on
Jake Paxton's layup from
John Bakke. Both teams went scoreless over the next three minutes until
Caleb Oden drove right and rolled it in with his left hand. The Gators went up as much as nine but the Toros went on an 11-0 run to take a 67-64 lead with just over a minute to go. Roth tied it with a three-pointer, then Lowe put CSUDH up two with a layup with 30 seconds to go. Roth missed a corner three but Flanagan was there for the putback with 12.8 seconds. The Toros missed twice in the final possession and had a third made shot waived off at the buzzer. In overtime, Okeke worked inside the paint for a bucket, and Okwuokei scored a couple of layups to make it a six-point advantage.
The Toros made a pair of free throws but Roth answered with a three-pointer. Ball made it to the line and cut the Gators' lead to three with four made free throws. The Gators missed a chance to pad the lead and the Toros had another chance to tie the game in the final possession, but DJ Guest's pass was deflected by Okwuokei and Roth secured it for the win.
"This weekend is a huge reward for our guys, who have been working so hard since the winter break. Tonight we had several guys step up and make big plays in big moments to get us over the top," said Head Coach Vince Inglima. "Eche has been playing the best basketball of his career over these last three games. He is setting the tone for us on both sides of the ball."
The Gators return home for their next two games. SF State hosts Stanislaus State on Thursday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m and Chico State on Saturday, January 21 at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at sfstategators.com/tickets. 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.
