HILO, Hawaii — Tyjean Burell dropped a season-high 23 points and the San Francisco State men's basketball team used a 13-3 run to begin the second half for an eventual 62-58 victory over Alaska Fairbanks in the Gators' second game of the Big Island Holiday Classic hosted by Hawai'i Hilo, on Monday afternoon inside Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
- The Gators improved to 7-4 while the Nanooks trend the opposite direction at 3-7.
- Burrell scored his season-high 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-8 from deep. He also had three rebounds and a steal.
- Caleb Oden and Jailen Daniel-Dalton each added a dozen points.
- Jake Paxton scored six points on a pair of timely three-pointers.
- Oden also led the team with eight rebounds as SF State outrebounded the Nanooks 36-29.
- Abdullahi Mohamed led the Nanooks with 15 points. Demarcus Hall-Scriven added 14 points in the loss.
SF State went down 5-0 early, and finally tied things six minutes into play on a deep three from
Donovan Cooks. UAF answered with four straight points to go back up, 17-13. The Gators countered with a 6-2 run and grabbed the lead inside of five minutes, 22-21. Mohamed hit back-to-back jumpers to give himself double digits and his team a three-point lead. Cooks had a no-look pass into the post to Daniel-Dalton, who pulled the Gators to within one and
John Bakke smothered the rebound at the other end after the defense forced a poor shot. At the other end, Bakke got the ball in the paint and gave the Gators a 26-25 lead with a turnaround jumper. After another stop, Burrell buried a three-pointer for a four-point Gators lead that forced a Nanooks timeout with 1:01 to go. However, after a pair of Tyriq Luke free throws, the Gators inbounded the ball with 1.6 seconds to go and an long pass by Bakke was intercepted by Paul Johnson, who beat the buzzer with a three-pointer for a 30-29 Nanooks halftime lead.
Daniel-Dalton hit a jumper and Burrell had a dunk and a steal to open the half for the Gators. That put SF State back up, 33-30, as the Gators made five of their first six shots and used a 13-3 run to take control, 42-33. That forced a UAF timeout but the Nanooks stuck around once again and took a 53-52 lead on a Hall-Scriven three-pointer. The ball bounced in the Gators' favor though. They got a second chance for
Jake Paxton, who buried the three to put the Gators back up two. Johnson tied it at 55-55 but Oden and Paxton hit back-to-back threes to go up six, 61-55, inside two minutes. The Nanooks made it interesting but a Burrell free throw iced the contest with .9 seconds remaining.
The Gators' finish the Big Island Holiday Classic versus host Hawai'i Hilo on Tuesday, December 19 at 6 p.m. HST/8 p.m. PT. On Sunday, the Vulcans (7-3) fell to Alaska Fairbanks 64-61 in overtime and faced NAIA opponent Hastings on Monday. For more information on the tournament, including links to live video and tickets, visit HiloAthletics.com/BIC. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com with updates also available on X at @sfstate_mbb.
