SEASIDE, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team opened CCAA play with a thud in a lopsided 88-71 loss to Cal State Monterey Bay on Thursday night at the Otter Sports Complex.
- After winning seven consecutive meetings dating back to 2016, the Gators have now lost four of their last five versus the Otters. SF State falls to 4-2 and drops its CCAA opener while the Otters even their record at 3-3 and start 1-0 in CCAA action.
- A game after the Gators scored a program-best 122 points, they looked like they may surrender 100, trailing 51-30 at the half.
- Despite the loss, Jailen Daniel-Dalton led all players with 22 points and 12 rebounds. It was his second double-double of the year, though both have come in losing efforts. He was 3-of-5 from deep and also had two blocks.
- John Bakke came off the bench and added 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, Tyjean Burrell added 13 points off 5-of-10 shooting, and Caleb Oden had 11 points and a career-high five steals.
- As a whole though, the Gators struggled from the field. They shot just 34.3 percent (23-of-67), including 27 percent (10-of-37) in the first half.
- Constrastly, it felt like the Otters couldn't miss. They were lights out in the first half, going 54.3 percent (19-of-35) from the field. They finished the night at 47.1 percent (32-of-68) and were 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from deep.
- Charles Johnston led the Otters with 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting. Jaden Tengan scored 16 points in the win and Jordan Archie and Joey Billelo each added 14 points apiece.
- The Otters also outrebounded the Gators 47-32.
The game was decided in the first six minutes. The Gators couldn't get anything going and were 1-of-10 in the opening minutes, while it felt like the Otters couldn't miss. They went 8-of-16 and built a 19-4 lead.
SF State's struggles continued as they finally reached double digits with 9:18 to go in the half when Caleb Oden came up with a steal and a layup.
The Otters' lead ballooned to as much as 30 in the second half. The Gators called timeout and did respond out of the huddle with a 16-6 run that cut the lead to 17 over the next four minutes. However, that's as close as SF State would get outside of the opening minutes.
The Gators will look to bounce back on Saturday, December 2 at Stanislaus State (3-4/0-1 CCAA). Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena. 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.
