LOS ANGELES – The San Francisco State men's basketball team got back into the win column on Thursday night with a 70-65 win at Cal State LA.
- The Gators improve to 6-9 on the year, 4-5 in CCAA play. Cal State LA also stands at 6-9 and 4-5 in conference play. The two teams are in a four-way tie for fifth place.
- Pearse Uniacke led the Gators with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and led all players with nine rebounds. He also had three blocks, bringing his season total to 33, which leads the CCAA. So far this season, Uniacke has tallied three or more blocks in five games.
- John Bakke added 14 points and Tyjean Burrell scored a dozen. Caleb Oden rounded things out with eight points, four rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal.
- The Gators continued to distribute the ball well with a season-best 20 on the night. Nine of those came from Caden Flowers, maring a career-best.
- SF State bounced back from its two worst shooting performances a week ago with a season-best 54.2 percent (26-of-48).
- Corey Cofield II led all players with 25 points, one shy of his career best, on 8-of-15 shooting for the Golden Eagles. He also had a team-high seven rebounds. Devin Ringer scored 14 points in the loss.
After playing to a 33-33 tie at halftime, the Golden Eagles took a brief 35-34 lead to open the second half. However, that would be the last time the would hold the lead. Flowers hit a three-pointer to put SF State back in front, and while the Golden Eagles did tie the game one more time, the Gators exploded for a 17-2 run over a six-minute stretch. Over that span, the Gators defense held Cal State LA to 1-of-8 shooting, including 0-for-7 from deep. Cal State LA countered with a 6-0 run of its own to get the lead back down to single digits but the Gators again stretched the lead to a dozen. The Golden Eagles made it interesting. Cal State LA worked its way to the free throw line and trimmed the lead to as few as three points with under two minutes to go. The Gators turned the ball over with under a minute to go but Uniacke's third block of the night proved huge as he blocked a Cofield three-point attempt. After a missed Gators free throw, the Golden Eagles had another opportunity for the tie but Shane Bell's three-pointer was off the mark. Bakke grabbed the rebound and was fouled, then iced the game with a pair of made free throws.
The Gators head to first-place 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 FloCollege.
