POMONA, Calif. — The San Francisco State men's basketball team found its stride on Thursday night in an 85-77 victory over Cal Poly Pomona inside Kellogg Arena.
- The Gators (5-3/1-2 CCAA) notched their first CCAA win while the Broncos slipped to (2-5/1-2 CCAA).
- SF State never trailed and led for 37:08 of the game.
- Five Gators reached double digits. Jailen Daniel-Dalton led the Gators with 18 points and was a rebound shy of another double-double. John Bakke had his third-straight 14-point effort and grabbed a season-high seven rebounds. Tyjean Burrell scored 12 points - nine of which came at the free throw line, Donovan Cooks scored 11 points, and Jonah Roth finished with 10 points.
- Bam Johnson's 29-point effort was wasted in the Broncos loss. Caleb Nelson added 13 points and Chris Gayles Jr. scored 11 points for the Broncos.
- The Gators shot 45.6 percent (26-of-57), including 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from deep. Seven of those threes came in the first half. The Broncos shot 43.3 percent (26-of-60) and 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from deep. Both teams got to the free throw line quite a bit. SF State made 23 of its 31 attempts (74.2 percent) while CPP went 19-of-29 (65.5 percent) at the free throw line.
- SF State also held a slight 36-34 rebounding advantage.
Roth, back in the starting lineup for the Gators, got things going with a bucket in the opening minutes. Tied 5-5, Burrell made a free throw, Roth hit a layup, and Burrell scored a four-point play that put SF State up 12-5 five minutes in.
The Broncos cut the lead to four but
Alex Gilat hit a jumper and Cooks hit a three-pointer to put SF State up nine. CPP again cut the lead to four but the Gators headed into the half up 39-32. Daniel-Dalton started the second half with a three-point play that pushed the Gators lead to double digits. Still up 10, Cooks shaked and baked to the rim and also drew the foul with 9:09 to go to make it a 13-point Gators lead.
The Gators extended the lead to as much as 15 with 8:37 to go.
However, the Broncos threatened late and cut the lead to as few as eight with under four minutes to go. Five free throws over the final two minutes helped the Gators secure the victory.
The Gators now head No. 4 Cal State San Bernardino (6-1/2-1 CCAA) on Saturday, December 9 at 3 p.m. 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.
