ROHNERT PARK -- Trailing by six points at the half, the Sonoma State men's basketball team exploded for 51 points in the second half, holding a sharpshooting Saint Martin's squad to just 28 points, including 8 of 27 from the floor and 4 of 19 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes to score a 77-60 victory in front of an electric crowd at The Wolves' Den on Friday night.
The Seawolves improve to 2-1 on the season and the Saints suffered their first loss of the year, dropping to 3-1.
In the opening stanza, Saint Martin's relied heavily on the deep ball, scoring 24 of its 32 points from beyond the arc on 8 of 15 shooting (10 of 25 overall). Meanwhile, Sonoma State was just 9 of 19 from the floor and 4 of 7 from three-point range as the Seawolves went into the break down 32-26.
The tables turned in the second half and it was the host Seawolves to catch fire, connecting on 60.9 percent of its shots in the final 20 minutes (14 of 23) and was a near-perfect 19 for 21 from the free throw line. As the offense heated up, the defense also put immense pressure on the visiting Saints, holding them to a freezing cold 29.6 percent shooting and forcing 11 turnovers in the process, adding up to a dominating second period for SSU.
Saint Martin's led for nearly 29 minutes Friday night, it wasn't until the 7:04 mark in the second half that Sonoma took the lead, and held it for good. The Seawolves trailed by as much as 10 points with 13:28 to play in the game, but for the next 12 minutes, SSU rallied to go on debilitating 39-11 run to turn the 10-point deficit into an 18-point lead with 1:22 remaining. During that span, the Seawolves were 11 for 17 from the floor, including 4 for 6 from deep, and was 13 for 15 from the charity stripe. On the other side, the Saints were a dismal 2 for 14 shooting, including 1 for 12 from the three-point arc, turning the ball over nine times.
Mason Phillips scored a team-high 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including 3 for 5 from downtown.
Jimmy Golden added 13 points, nine of which came from the free throw line.
Ronnie Harris chipped in with 12 and
Armani Nicolis had nine.
All told, Sonoma hit on 54.8 percent of its shots (23 for 42) and was good on 57.1 percent of its three-pointers (8 for 14), not to mention 85.2 percent from the free throw line (23 for 27).
Saint Martin's got 20 points Tyler Copp, who scored all but two of his points from three-point range. The Saints finished the night shooting 18 for 52 (34.6 percent) and 12 for 34 from the arc (35.3 percent).
Sonoma State returns to the hardwood Saturday night against Academy of Art at 7:30 pm to wrap up the 16th Annual Ron Logsdon Basketball Classic at The Wolves' Den.
