SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team ran its win streak to five with a 68-60 home victory over Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday afternoon inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- The last time the two teams met, the Gators dug themselves into an early 15-point deficit. This time, they spotted the Otters a 9-0 lead but overcame Saturday's slow start to improve to 13-8 overall and to 7-6 in CCAA action. The Otters fall to 6-12 overall and to 4-9 in conference play.
- The Gators bench accounted for 38 points, compared to just 11 for CSUMB. John Bakke came off the bench and scored a season-high 18 points, one shy of his career best, and reeled in a team-high nine rebounds. Donovan Cooks finished with 15 points, two shy of his career best. Caleb Oden added nine points and CJ Bellamy finished with eight.
- Jailen Nelson led CSUMB with 20 points for the Otters with five three-pointers. The Otters' leading scorer, Charles Johnston, had 11 points at the half. He finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jaden Tengan finished with 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting, including 1-of-8 from deep.
- The Otters made just one of their last 10 three-pointers and finished 10-of-36 from deep. Overall, they shot 41.4 percent (24-of-58). SF State shot under 40 percent at 36.9 percent (24-of-65) and is now 2-3 in those games.
- SF State won the rebounding battle, 42-37.
- At halftime, the Gators honored its 1993-94 team, who are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of their NCAC Championship. The nationally-ranked Gators went 21-10, won the conference tournament, and earned a berth to the NCAA Division II West Region Tournament.
Johnston hit a couple of early three-pointers to give Cal State Monterey Bay an early 6-0 lead, and Jaden Tengan hit a three to make it 9-0. Oden finally answered for the Gators with his three at 16:37. Down eight, Cooks stole a pass and made a three at the other end, and then
Jailen Daniel-Dalton drew a charge. Out of the first media timeout of the game, Bakke hit a three from the top of the key to pull SF State within two. The Gators got four straight defensive stops and tied it at 11-11 on
Tyjean Burrell's driving layup. Burrell drew contact and his free throw gave the Gators their first lead at 12:30. In all, the lead changed hands 18 times in the first half but the Gators led for the final four and a half minutes. SF State stretched the lead to six on
Pearse Uniacke's putback hook shot and led by eight after a pair of Bakke free throws. Nelson hit a corner three on the Otters' final possession of the half to cut the Gators lead to five at the half, 41-36.
CSUMB came out swinging and tied the game at 41-41 in the first minute of the second half. A Tengan floater gave the Otters a brief lead but SF State took the lead for good on Cooks' three-pointer on the following possession. Bakke followed with a jumper, Bellamy drained a three, and Bakke laid one in four an eight-point lead with 14 minutes to go and the Gators never looked back. The lead grew to as much as 11 and to as few as five but the Gators were in control the rest of the way.
San Francisco State hits the four for its next four games. The Gators begin the road trip on Thursday, February 1 with a 7:30 p.m. start at Cal Poly Humboldt, then head to Chico State on Saturday, February 3 for a 3 p.m. matinee. Fans can stream the games live on the CCAA Network. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com with updates also available on X at @sfstate_mbb. Tickets are available at sfstategators.com/tickets.
