SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's basketball team built a first-half lead to secure an 80-72 victory over visiting Cal State San Marcos on Satruday inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
- SF State improves to 5-7 overall and 3-3 in CCAA play, tied for fourth place. The Cougars, coming off their first win on Thursday, drop to 1-10 overall and 1-4 in conference action.
- John Bakke led the Gators with a career-high 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He also led all players with nine rebounds. He led all players at the half with 13 points and six boards.
- Tyjean Burrell added 15 points, Caleb Oden had 11 points, and Caden Flowers scored 10 in the victory.
- SF State distributed the ball well and posted a season-high 15 assists while the Cougars matched a season-low with just five.
- The Gators won the rebounding battle 38-36. The 38 rebounds were a season-high for the Gators.
- Despite going just 2-of-9 from deep in the first half, the Gators shot 55.6 percent (15-of-24). SF State shot 50 percent in the second half, including 5-of-10 from deep, to finish the game 52.7 percent (29-of-55).
- CSUSUM was led by Keavie Love's career-high 22 points. Kyelin King was the only other Cougar in double digits with 10 points.
Down a point with under nine minutes to go in the first half, the Gators exploded for a 10-0 run over a two and a half minute span. In that period, SF State went 4-for-4 with seven points from Bakke while holding the Cougars 0-for-5. The lead grew as large as 13 and SF State led 36-25 at the break.
A lengthy second half saw the Gators take as large as a 22-point lead three minutes into the period. However, the Cougars managed to chip away and cut the lead to single digits in the final two minutes. Most of that was thanks to 15-of-19 free throw shooting in the second half for the Cougars. At one point CSUSM had shot 16 free throws to just four for the Gators. However, that margin evened out as the Cougars were forced to foul and SF State eventually went on to shoot 16 in the second half and 22 for the game.
The Gators host Stanislaus State (6-6/3-3 CCAA) on Thursday, January 9 at 7:30 p.m. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com, and fans can tune in to the action on FloCollege.
