SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team used a strong first half and closed out the five-game homestand on Saturday with a huge 72-68 win over No. 21 Cal State LA inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- San Francisco State moves to 9-8 and 3-6 in CCAA action while nationally-ranked Cal State LA falls to 12-3 and into a tie for first place in the CCAA at 7-2.
- The last time the Gators beat a Top-25 team was February 4, 2017 in a 65-51 win over then-No. 20 Chico State.
- The Gators held the Golden Eagles to a season-low 33.3 percent (19-of-57) including just 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in the first half.
- Jailen Daniel-Dalton led SF State with 16 points and Tyjean Burrell finished with 15 points, including a clutch 8-of-10 free throws. Alex Gilat contributed nine points and Caleb Oden and Jonah Roth both had eight points apiece. Devon Jackson had six points.
- Jackson, Oden, and Roth split the team lead in rebounds with six apiece. The rebounding battle was tied at 41-41.
- Eche Okeke, now in an LA uniform for his grad year, returned to the SF State floor for the first time since his career-best 23-point performance in the Gators' Senior Day victory last February 25. He shared the team lead with a season-high 20 points.
- Corey Cofield also added a double-double with 20 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss.
SF State dug itself into another early hole, 8-0, before Jonah Roth broke the seal with a three-pointer three minutes in. It took another three minutes for the Gators to pull even, on Bellamy's layup. The Gators got a couple of stops, then took a 14-12 lead on a pair of Alex Gilat free throws. The Golden Eagles momentarily regained the lead before Daniel-Dalton's three-pointer broke the tie and gave the Gators the lead with under nine minutes to go. SF State closed the half on a 12-5 run and took a 36-25 lead into the locker room.
The Golden Eagles used a 10-1 run over a three-minute period to trim the lead to 56-52 with 6:36 to go. LA cut it to a point with a Bell three-pointer inside four minutes and Okeke got a third-chance putback that put the Golden Eagles up, 61-60, with 3:12 to go. Burrell drove to the hoop and kicked out to Oden, who answered with a three to put SF State up two, then the Gators got a stop and Burrell got to the free throw line with a pump fake. He made both tries to keep it a two possession game, 65-61.
Cofield had a layup, then Burrell and Cofield traded free throws to keep it a two-point game. With 25.3 seconds LA opted to foul Burrell, who made one. Okeke was fouled on the rebound with 22.4 seconds to go and made both to make it a one-point game, 69-68. Burrell was fouled again and made both of his free throws to make it a three-point game with 17.4 second to play. Bakke drew a foul with six second remaining and the chants of "Beat LA" from the home crowd grew louder. Bakke made his second free throw to make it a two-possession game and ice the game.
The Gators head to Cal State San Marcos for a game on Thursday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m., then return to Northern California for a game at Sonoma State on Saturday, January 20 at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com, as well as updates on X at @sfstate_mbb. Tickets are available at sfstategators.com/tickets.
