SAN MARCOS, CALIF. - On Saturday, January 8th, the Sonoma State men's basketball team concluded their SoCal road trip as they took on the 11th ranked Cougars of Cal State San Marcos. San Marcos came into the contest with an impressive 10-0 overall record and a 6-0 conference record with key wins over Cal State East Bay, Monterey Bay, and a non-conference win over nationally ranked Point Loma Nazarene earlier in the season. Despite their overall record, the Seawolves came into the contest in good form as they had their best offensive performance of the season in an 82-88 loss to Cal State LA two nights prior. Four players finished in double figures and senior transfer Simon Ramirez led the way with a career high 22 points. Head coach Rich Shayewitz and his group also tied a program record hitting 16 three's in the contest as they led over the Golden Eagles for the majority of the game. Sonoma State will look to put up some big shooting numbers once again in an effort to try and upset the nationally ranked Cougars on the road.

 Rich Shayewitz and his group did not shy away from the 11th ranked Cougars as they came out swinging and started the game on a 7-2 run. Damian Wallace got SSU on the board on a nice dribble drive from big man Wesley Gilbert who then kicked to the corner for a quick release three from Wallace. Gilbert would get his own bucket on the Seawolves next possession as he would face up his defender and hit a jumper from the elbow. Just under the 15-minute mark San Marcos would start to feel their shot from deep as they hit a couple three's to make it a two point game. The Seawolves offense would answer again as Santa Rosa JC transfer Damian Wallace would make a brilliant backdoor cut where Jake Salinero would hit him on the bounce for the easy deuce. After a career night in Thursday's contest, Simon Ramirez would come off the bench and hit his first attempted three of the game to help Sonoma State retake the lead, 16-14.

After both teams began trading buckets in a tightly contested opening ten minutes, San Marcos would go on a momentous 10-0 run to give them their largest lead of the game at eight points. Jacob Williams would hit a deep high arching three to stop the bleeding and continue his hot hand from Thursday night. After the Williams three however, the Cougars would do what they do best and finish the half on a 15-5 run and take a 15 point lead into the break. Active hands from the Cougar defense forced several turnovers in the final minutes and some hot shooting from outside would help build their lead just before the break. Sonoma State still shot over 50% from the field but 8 made three pointers and 11 forced turnovers for Cal State San Marcos would prove to be the difference at halftime. Damian Wallace, Nick Klarman, and Wesley Gilbert all finished with 7 first half points for the Seawolves. Wallace helped facilitate and operate SSU's offense for the majority of the first half as he also recorded three assists and grabbed three boards in his 15 minutes of action. 

After an efficient half shooting the ball for both Sonoma State and San Marcos, both teams would cool off significantly to start the second half. However, the Cougars would start the first half on a 10-2 run over the first four minutes to grab control of the game and build up a 23 point lead. A well anticipated steal from Damian Wallace under 15 minutes would lead to a Nick Klarman layup and bring the lead back down to 21, but San Marcos would never look back as they would maintain their advantage and take the game 55-88. A late bucket under 30 seconds left would give the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 33 points. Neither team shot particularly well from the field in the second half but 14 second half turnovers would seal the Seawolves fate. San Marcos was able to score 25 points in the second half off those turnovers compared to Sonoma State's 7 points. The Cougars were lethal in transition as well as they finished the game out scoring SSU 15-4 in fastbreak points with the majority of those points coming in the second half. 

Transfer guard Damian Wallace had another efficient day as he finished 4-8 from the field good for 9 points in back-to-back games for the Seawolves. Wallace also tallied 4 assists and 5 rebounds to go along with his 9 points. Veteran Nick Klarman would be the lone Seawolf in double figures as he finished with a team high 16 points on 53% shooting. Wesley Gilbert and Michael Smith combined for 15 points on the day. Both players also led the team in rebounds as they grabbed 6 a piece.   

Sonoma State falls to 2-12 on the season and 2-6 in CCAA play with their third straight loss. The Seawolves will return to the Wolves' Den this upcoming week for the first time since December 20th. Shayewitz and his group will look to bounce back and end their skid as both of the team's wins on the season have come at home. SSU will take on Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday, January 13th at 7:30 PM and then finish the homestand on Saturday against nationally ranked Cal State San Bernardino. Live stat and stream links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com and all games can be streamed on the CCAA Network. Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation