SAN FRANCISCO — Three Sonoma State men's basketball players scored in double-digits, including a team-high 13 points from Ronnie Harris, but it was not enough as the Seawolves fell to San Francisco State 80-65 on the road in San Francisco Saturday night. With the loss, the Seawolves fall to 11-5 on the year, snapping their five game win streak and are now fourth in the conference with a 7-3 record in league play. The Gators improve to 15-3 overall and are now in sole possession of third place in the CCAA at 8-3.

The 20th-ranked Gators set the pace early on in the contest with the Seawolves only establishing a lead at 3-2 after a three-pointer by Armani Nicolis at the 17:50 mark. From there the conference foes battled back-and-forth over the next several minutes and the Seawolves only found themselves trailing 13-11 after a layup by Brian Johnson with 12:23 left in the first half. That would be the closest the Seawolves would be the rest of the game, as the Gators went on an 11-0 run over the next five minutes and suddenly Sonoma found themselves trailing 24-11 with 7:17 left in the half. Sonoma were able to come within 11 after a layup by Luke Cochran cut the deficit to 26-15 with 6:01 remaining and then again 30 seconds later after Cochran split a pair of free throws to make the score 27-16. After the split free throws the Gators went on a 9-0 run, making the score 36-16 with 3:37 left in the half. However, the Seawolves battled the remainder of the half and were able to cut into the Gators lead a little bit after Khalid Johnson's three with three seconds left in the half made the score 44-28.
 
The Seawolves shot 46.2 percent overall in the half, on 12 of 26 shooting, but only went 3 for 9 from deep, and 1 for 2 from the line. Nicolis led the team in scoring for the half with eight points, while Cochran added seven of his own. Sonoma even managed to outrebound the Gators 14 to 10 in the half. The difference in the half was the Gators were able to connect on 17 of their 26 shots in the half, an impressive 65.4 percent, which is hard to do against this Seawolves defense. Jackson Warren led all scorers in the half with 13 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including 3 for 4 from deep. The Gators also protected the ball well, only turning the ball over four times, while forcing 11 Seawolf turnovers in the process.
 
The second half was much of the same, as the Seawolves had a difficult time cutting into San Francisco State's lead. Sonoma trailed by as much as 26 points with 8:04 left in the game after a Nick Calcaterra three made the score 69-43. Then, the Seawolves were able to ignite a spark, going on a 15-0 run after back-to-back-to-back three's from Jackson Gion, Harris, and Mason Phillips started the rally. This crucial run brought the Seawolves within only 11 and trailing by a score of only 69-58 with 4:03 remaining. The Gators responded by increasing their lead back to 15 with 3:05 left, and the Seawolves now trailed 73-58. Harris would bring the Seawolves within 11 once again after sinking two free throws and a layup made it 73-62 at the 1:59 mark. That was the closest the Seawolves would get the remainder of the way.
 
What hurt the Seawolves was they only shot 9 for 31 in the half (29 percent), but managed to go 14 for 18 from the line after remaining aggressive. The defense held the Gators to 9 for 22 shooting in the half (40.9 percent) but allowed them to get to the line 16 times, where they sank 14 of those.
 
All told, the Seawolves shot 21-57 (36.8 percent) from the floor, 15 of 20 from the line, and turned the ball over 15 times, only four of those coming in the second half. Harris led the way with 13, and Golden and Nicolis both reached double-digit scoring with 10 points each. The Gators shot 54.2 percent overall, connecting on 26 of their 46 shots and went 20 for 24 from the charity stripe. The Gators had four players in double figures with Warren leading all scorers with 25 points.
 
The Seawolves will be back on the court on Thursday January 26th as they will be continuing their road trip to face Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. Tip-off at the Torodome will be at 7:30 pm.