TURLOCK, Calif. — Jordan Fleck scored a game-high 14 points off the bench to help propel the Sonoma State men's basketball team to a dominating 61-47 road victory on Friday night over the Warriors of Stanislaus State. Free throws and stellar defense were the difference in the contest as the Seawolves improve to 9-4 on the year and 5-2 in conference play, while the Warriors fall to 4-9 and 1-5 in league play.
 
The Seawolves had control of the game for the majority of the night, only trailing 2-4 with 16:57 left in the first half. From there the conference opponents traded baskets over the next several minutes, before Fleck was fouled on a three-pointer. Fleck managed to sink all three free throws, which put the Seawolves up 23-15 with 6:37 left in the half. Those free throws were able to ignite a 12-3 Seawolf run to close out the half, increasing the lead to 32-18. Sonoma shot 9 for 23 (39.1 percent) overall in the opening stanza, including 4 of 10 from three-point range. The Seawolves used superb defense to hold the Warriors to 6 of 20 shooting from the floor (30 percent), and 3 for 15 from beyond the arc. The difference in the half was Sonoma's aggression and ability to get to the line 12 times, sinking 10 of those, good for 83.3 percent.
 
Sonoma carried the momentum they built from the first half into the second. After trading baskets for the first several minutes, the Seawolves increased the lead to 19 with 14:05 left in the second half, making the score 43-24 after Armani Nicolis split a pair of free throws. The score relatively stayed the same for the remainder of the game, as Stanislaus was only able to trim the Seawolves lead to 13 with 5:14 remaining. That was the closest the Seawolves allowed the Warriors to get, as Sonoma would eventually coast to a 61-47 victory.
 
The Seawolves were consistent on the shooting end throughout the nights, shooting 9 for 22 from the floor in the second half (40.9 percent), and 2 for 9 on three's. The Seawolves were able to consistently get to the free throw line once again, connecting on 9 of 11 in the half, while the Warriors hit only 3 of 11 in the half.
 
All told, the Seawolves shot 18 for 45 from the floor, including 6 for 19 from distance, and an impressive 19 for 23 from the free throw line. Fleck was able to gain nine of his game-high 14 points from the charity stripe, and Nicolis chipped in three of his 11 points from the line as well. In addition, Khalid Johnson and Luke Cochran were both able to tally eight points and a team-high four rebounds in the contest, respectively. Sonoma, which boasts the top-ranked scoring defense in all of Division II, held the Warriors to 17 for 42 from the floor, including 7 for 26 from distance, good for 26.9 percent, and 6 for 15 (40 percent) from the line.
 
The Seawolves will be back in action next Friday (Jan. 13th) against Cal State San Bernardino. The game will be held at Haehl Pavilion at SRJC in Santa Rosa, tip-off at 7:30 pm.