SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco State men's basketball team lead through out the second half against Cal State San Marcos. The Cougars tied the game up near the end of regulation and won 76-71 in overtime.
- SF State falls to 2-16 and 1-11 in conference. Cal State San Marcos improves to 10-7 and 7-5 in the CCAA
- Diego Martinez had 25 points off the bench to lead the Gators in scoring.
- The Gators had a season-high 29 personal fouls. San Marcos went 30-for-40 at the line.
- SF State had the edge on shooting and finished 40.4 percent compared to San Marcos' 33.9
- The Cougars held a 48 to 31 advantage on rebounds.
After going up early, the Gators went cold, only scoring one basket over the course of six minutes while the Cougars scored 14 points to lead 16-10 a little under halfway through the first half. Down by three, Martinez scored eight straight points for the Gators to retake the lead. The Cougars closed the gap near the end of the half and trailed 33-31.
The two teams swapped leads throughout the second half. Tied at 46-46, the Gators looked like they were pulling away when they scored three straight three-point baskets. But the Cougars never went away and cut the lead down to one possession on Keavie Love's driving lay-up with 1:50 to go. The Gators turned over the ball on the next possession and were unable to extend their lead from 64-61 on the following possession. With 25 seconds left, Aaron Ragen was fouled driving to the basket. He made the and-one shot to tie the game and Fed Pernell could not get his shot to land to give the Gators the victory.
Milandev Chatha briefly gave the Gators a 68-67 with four minutes to go in overtime. The Gators missed the next couple shots and fouled the Cougars to send them to the line. San Marcos outscored the Gators 6-0 to lead 73-68 with 1:16 to go. The Gators only scored one more basket and free throws helped the Cougars maintain their lead.
The Gators face Cal State San Bernardino on the road on January 29 at 7:30 p.m. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com and fans can watch at home on FloCollege.
