SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team punched its ticket to the CCAA Tournament in thrilling fashion with a 62-60 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday night in the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- With the win, SF State moves to 15-12 overall and stands tied for third with Sonoma State at 11-10. The playoff picture remains murky though, as only the top two seeds have been secured. Four teams (Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State East Bay, Chico State, and Humboldt State) are fighting for the final two berths. CSUDH falls to 11-16 overall and 7-14 in CCAA play.
- Eche Okeke poured in 16 points to go with four rebounds, five assists, two steals, and two blocks.
- John Bakke, who hit the game-winner, scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He also grabbed five rebounds and had two assists. CJ Bellamy and Jalen Flanagan finished with 10 points apiece, and Toby Okwuokei added sevent points.
- The Gators won the rebounding battle 38-30, led by Caleb Oden's six boards.
- Jordan Hilstock led the Toros with 15 points on four three-pointers. Andre Ball and Jeremy Dent-Smith added 13 points apiece and David Cheatom scored 10 points in the loss.
The Gators went up 17-7 seven minutes in and pushed the lead to 20-10 inside the 12-minute mark on an Okeke drive. However, the Toros didn't roll over and tied the game at 26-26 after a Ball dunk and Hilstock three-pointer. The Gators regained the lead on a Bellamy three pointer but the Toros closed the half on a 9-0 run for a 35-29 lead.
SF State opened the half with a stop and Bakke got to the rim to make it a four-point game. SF State pulled to within two but the Toros pushed their lead back to five and held the lead until the 9:33 mark when
Jake Paxton buried a corner three from Okeke that tied it at 48-48. Okwuokei gave the Gators the lead 58-57 on an and-one with 2:10 to play. The Gators got a couple of defensive stops, then Bellamy found his way to the rim for an uncontested layup to make it 60-57.
Hilstock tied the game at 60-60 with a three-pointer with 31 seconds remaining. On the Gators' final possession, Bellamy drove again but this time kicked out to Bakke, who drove to the rim and sent a floater in to beat the shot clock with 1.8 seconds to go.
"We could not be more proud of this group after the 1-7 conference start. It would have been really easy for guys to start to pull apart and continue down that road but it shows the mental toughness, led by our seniors, to come together and be problem solvers and be rewarded by securing a playoff berth," said Head Coach Vince Inglima. "We're excited to honor our four seniors on Saturday for all of their contributions to our program and are looking forward to finishing the regular season strong, then moving on to the playoffs."
The Gators host Cal State East Bay (12-15/10-11 CCAA) on Saturday, February 25 at 3 p.m. in another game with playoff implications. The team's four seniors — Jalen Flanagan, Eche Okeke, Toby Okwuokei, and Bryson Ryan – will be honored in a pregame ceremony. 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.
