SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco State men's basketball team faced a 60-45 setback to Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday afternoon.
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- The Gators fall to 5-9 on the year, 3-5 in CCAA play, while the Otters improve to 4-9, 1-7 this season.
- Tyjean Burrell and John Bakke paced the team with 12 points each, and Bakke also added seven rebounds. Pearse Uniacke had eight rebounds and a pair of assists. Caden Flowers had a game-high four steals.
- The Gators struggled on the offensive end in the first half, allowing 18 defensive rebounds while only grabbing four offensive boards. SF State would be out-rebounded 48-37 in the contest, tied for the most boards allowed by the Gators this year.
- SF State shot just 11 percent (1-of-9) from deep in the first 20 minutes, and eight percent (2-of-24) in the game.
The Otters climbed to an 11-4 advantage in the first five minutes, capped off by a 7-0 run and a three-pointer by Michael Mora. Alex Gilat's deep triple off a dish from CJ Bellamy cut it to 18-11 with just over 10 minutes left. Burrell's driving and-one layup narrowed the deficit to single digits with 33 seconds left in the first, part of a 7-0 SF State run to end the half as the Otters went into the break up 27-20.
The Gators came out of the break with a 6-0 run, highlighted by an alley-oop from Uniacke off a pass from Flowers, bringing the hosts to within one. Bakke knocked down back-to-back jumpers around the 15-minute mark, and Burrell's layup the next possession off another assist from Flowers gave SF State its first lead of the day at 33-31, part of an 18-4 run going back to the first half. CSUMB regained the advantage with a 17-2 run, capped off by Javon Johnson's three-pointer, as the visitors now led 48-35. Burrell knocked down his first triple of the game with 2:03 left, but the Otters were able to close it out with five three throws and walk away with the 60-45 victory.
The Gators visit Cal State LA on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 3 p.m.. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com, and fans can tune in to the action on FloHoops.