SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team notched a 59-55 home victory over Dominican in both teams' season openers on Friday night inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- SF State is picked sixth out of 12 teams in the preseason CCAA coaches poll. Dominican is picked seventh out of 11 teams in the PacWest preseason coaches poll.
- The Gators shot the ball well in the first half at a clip of 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) and finished the game 19-of-42 (45.2 percent). SF State limited Dominican to 17-of-49 (34.7 percent) shooting on the night.
- Jonah Roth led all players with a 20-point night, three shy of his career best. Tyjean Burrell had 10 points in his Gators debut and six other Gators scored.
- Ten different Penguins scored, paced by Brendon Johnson's 15 points, 10 of which came in the second half.
- Both squads reeled in 30 rebounds apiece.
- Both teams showed opening night jitters. SF State turned the ball over 21 times while Dominican committed 20 turnovers.
- Prior to tip-off, SF State held a moment of silence for former Gators Head Coach Charlie Thomas. Last week, Thomas passed away in his home in Visalia at the age of 71. A two-time NCAC Coach of the Year, Thomas coached the Gators for 17 seasons from 1988 to 2005, and is the second winningest coach in program history with 184 wins. This season also marks the 30th anniversary of one of his NCAC championship teams. As a player, he was a member of Virginia Tech's 1973 NIT championship team.
San Francisco State started the game with a couple of dunks from
Caleb Oden, including an alley-oop from
CJ Bellamy, and one off of a fast-break steal by Oden.
A Roth hook shot in the paint put the Gators up 18-14 with nine minutes to go in the first half. A little over two minutes later, Roth drained a three-ball from the top of the key to make it a six-point Gators advantage. With under a minute left in the half,
Devon Jackson shoveled a pass to Bellamy for an 11-point Gators lead. With 23.3 seconds, Roth nearly lost the ball but recovered and drew a foul, then sank both free throws for a 15-point half. PJ Volz scored just before the half for the Penguins and the Gators headed into the locker room with a 33-22 lead.
Dominican opened up the second half with a three-pointer from Nathan Ilunga but the Gators answered with an 8-2 run over the next four minutes that resulted in SF State's largest lead of the night, 41-27.
Dominican cut the lead to single digits again but a pair of
John Bakke free throws pushed the lead back to double digits. Dominican once again shaved the lead to single digits, this time down to three. Roth stopped the bleeding and pushed the lead to 52-46 with a little over four minutes to go.
Still, Dominican climbed back into it and threatened late. Another Johnson three cut the lead to four with 15.6 seconds but the Gators got a stop on the Penguins' final possession.
The Gators wrap up the San Francisco State Tip-Off Classic on Saturday, November 11 at 7 p.m. versus Academy of Art. Sonoma State, who was victorious 64-62 in overtime over ART U, and Dominican tip off in the game before at 5 p.m. ART U is picked to finish second in the PacWest after earning back-to-back trips to the NCAA Division II West Regionals. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com with updates also available on X at @sfstate_mbb, and fans can stream the game live on the CCAA Network. Tickets are available at sfstategators.com/tickets.
