ROHNERT PARK -- On a night where the Sonoma State men's basketball seniors were celebrated,
Jimmy Golden scored a game-high 19 points, 11 of which came from the free throw line. However, it was not enough, as the Seawolves' seven-game win streak was snapped against the Toros of Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday night in a 58-55 home loss.
With the hiccup, Sonoma falls to 18-6 on the year and into third place in the conference at 14-4, trailing first-place UC San Diego (16-3) by a game and a half and second-place San Francisco State (15-3) by a game. Meanwhile, the Toros improve to 13-11 overall and 9-9 in the CCAA.
It was a tight-knit first half with neither team being able to distance themselves from the other. Sonoma got off to a quick 5-0 start at the 17:52 mark after
Armani Nicolis nailed a three and
Khalid Johnson made a layup. Then, Dominguez Hills came roaring back and after going on an 11 to 4 run, found themselves in front 11-9. SSU would put a halt to the Toros run and countered with a 10 to 0 run of their own and in possession of a 19-11 lead midway through the first half. The Toros would cut SSU's lead down to six (26-20) with four minutes to go, before ultimately finishing the half on a 12 to 2 run, and suddenly the Seawolves found themselves trailing 28-32 heading into intermission.
Nathan Molony-Benjamin provided a spark off the bench in the first half, attaining eight of his 13 points overall, while shooting a perfect 3-3 in the opening frame. The Seawolves shot 10 for 24 (41.7 percent) overall in the half, which was not too far behind Dominguez Hills' 42.9 percent shooting display.
When the two conference opponents returned to the hardwood it was a grind for the entirety of the half. The Seawolves and Toros traded baskets virtually the entire half with six points being the largest point separation in the half when the Toros led 30-36 at the 17:11 mark. Sonoma battled their way back to within one after Molony-Benjamin split a pair of free throws to cut the Toro lead to 40-41. One point was the closest SSU would get, which they were able to accomplish twice, the other time being after a Golden layup made the score 55-56 with 1:28 to go. On the ensuing possession
Brian Johnson would block a shot and then the defense forced a turnover before a couple missed layups put the ball back in the Toros possession with 0:35 to go in the game. The Seawolves intentionally fouled with 0:16 seconds left and after Vincent Golson sank both free throws for the Toros, SSU had one last shot to try and send this game to overtime. Unable to get a clean look,
Khalid Johnson shot a deep three in the final seconds which barely missed, resulting in a tough 55-58 loss at home.
When the final buzzer went off Sonoma shot 19 for 50 (38 percent) from the hardwood, while the Toros shot 21 for 51 (41.2 percent) overall. The difference in the game was the Toros ability to ring in the three ball, connecting on 7 of their 15 three-point attempts, while SSU only converted 2 of their 11 attempts. Although the Seawolves managed to get to the line 22 times, they were only able to convert on 15 of those, good enough for only 68.2 percent. Defensively, the Seawolves were able to force 10 turnovers and block five shots, three of those by B. Johnson.
Golden and Molony-Benjamin were the only two Seawolves in double-figures with 19 and 13, respectively.
Luke Cochran was able to chime in nine points and corralled seven rebounds as well, tied with Molony-Benjamin for a team-high.
Now the Seawolves will head to the road for their final two regular season games, taking on Humboldt State at Lumberjack Arena in Arcata on Thursday February 23rd at 7:30PM, and will finish the regular against Cal Poly Pomona at Kellogg Gym in Pomona on Saturday February 25th at 7:30 PM.
