SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team had its best shooting night of the season in a 67-61 win over Cal State LA on Thursday night inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- The Gators split the season series with the Golden Eagles and move to 10-11 overall and 6-9 in CCAA action while the Golden Eagles move to 9-12 overall and 6-9 in CCAA action. The conference standings are knotted up with just two games separating the No. 4 and No. 11 teams.
- With the win, SF State is now 11-1 at home vs. Cal State LA dating back to 2013.
- SF State's 55.3 percent (26-of-47) is the team's best performance of the season. The Gators shot just four three-pointers and made four of them.
- Eche Okeke led all players with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go with five rebounds. Jalen Flanagan added 17 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Caleb Oden, Toby Okwuokei, and Jake Paxton all chipped in seven points apiece.
- Payton Moore and Jared Pearre led Cal State LA with 14 points apiece. Shane Bell added 13 points and Tyler Sokol added a dozen points in the loss.
- The Gators had 10 steals and converted them to 20 points off of turnovers.
- SF State also excelled in transition, where the Gators scored 14 fast break points.
- The Gators outrebounded the Golden Eagles 31-27.
The Gators took their first lead of the night at 6-5. That sparked a 12-0 run that grew the lead to 11 just six minutes into play. The Golden Eagles countered with a 13-2 run punctuated by a Sokol catch and release three from the top of the arc that tied the game at 18-18.
The Gators regained the lead on an Okeke steal and layup but Cannady hit a three a couple of possessions later to give Cal State LA its first lead since the opening minutes. The Gators went back up by nine but went scoreless for over two minutes and Cal State LA rattled off an 8-0 run over the same span to pull within a point, 32-31. Oden's dunk with just over a minute left helped keep SF State in front headed into the break, 34-32.
SF State got the lead back to eight in the second half but Pearre kept the Golden Eagles around with a couple of dunks. A Bell three-pointer from the left side with 4:23 to go cut the Gators lead to 61-59.
The Gators maintained the lead and Sokol missed a three from in front of his own bench. Okeke came down with the rebound and was fouled with 4.4 seconds to go. He sank both to ice the game, 67-61.
"Great win for us today, it's always nice to bounce back after a tough road trip. We had some guys really step up tonight," said Head Coach Vince Inglima. "Our effort and intensity was off the charts, which really took them out of their rythym and allowed us to score off fast breaks. It's always good to win at home and we're looking forward to trying to get the job done again on Saturday."
The Gators host Cal State San Marcos on Saturday, February 4 at 3 p.m. 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. Tickets are on sale at sfstategators.com/tickets.
