ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Thursday, February 10th, the Sonoma State men's basketball team returned to the Wolves' Den where they held a six point lead halfway through the second half before eventually falling 69-80 to Cal State East Bay to suffer their 8th straight loss, all in conference action. Head coach Rich Shayewitz and his squad had a tough matchup tonight as the Pioneers have been finding a rhythm as of late, having won four of their last five games including an upset win last week over the #9 ranked Cougars of Cal State San Marcos that shook up the top of the standings in the CCAA. Sonoma State has been scoring the ball at a better clip in recent weeks but have been allowing over 70 points per game in their last five games. That would show in the second half as the Seawolves defense surrendered 46 second half points to allow the Pioneers to run away with this one late. 

SSU has had a knack for battling some of the best teams in the conference early in games and that is exactly what they did tonight as both teams traded blows all the way out to an 11-11 tie in the first ten minutes. SSU center Jeremy Lillis had a nice start to the game as he recorded three made baskets in the paint in those opening ten minutes. After forcing back-to-back turnovers oin steals from Jaylen Wells and Jeremy Lillis, a Jackie Luong layup off of an offensive rebound would give the Seawolves a five point lead, their largest of the half. East Bay would respond with an 11-5 scoring run under the ten minute mark to retake the lead 22-21 off a couple of crucial transition threes. A couple possessions later, senior forward Nick Klarman would answer with a three ball of his own to put SSU back on top, 24-22. Klarman would finish with 11 points in his 34 minutes of action. 

The Pioneers would punch right back as they went on a momentous 10-0 run under two minutes with a transition three and some clutch fastbreak layups started from some active defense. They would go into the half leading 34-28. The scoring for both teams was well distributed after the first half as neither team had a player in double figures yet. Lillis led the way for SSU with 7 points while Klarman had 5. 6-13 from three and nearly 10 points off of fastbreaks were the difference make for the Pioneers in the first 20 minutes of action. 

After going down by six at the break, the Seawolves would cut it to just two at the 16-minute media timeout. Three balls from Jaylen Wells and Nick Klarman would help cut the deficit early in the half as wells as some nice layups from Jeremy Lillis and Damian Wallace. After forcing a Pioneer turnover on the defensive side of the ball, SSU would come out of the media timeout and Klarman would connect on another three ball to take the lead for the first time since the first half. A Preston Blakely layup and a Lillis three pointer would give the Seawolves a four point lead with under 14-minutes to play.

The next few minutes possessed some of the most back and forth action all night. Shayewitz and his group looked so close to breaking out of East Bay's control and busting this game wide open but the Pioneers had an answer for every punch thrown at them. It all started with a big slam from Jeremy Lillis on the great pick and roll and feed from Nick Klarman to extend their lead to four. With the Seawolf bench on their feet, Zack Perlstein would sit them back down with a huge pull up three on the other end to kill the momentum. SSU guard Preston Blakely would answer with a corner three of his own as he stared his defender in the face and pulled the trigger. Nick Klarman would get a steal and force a crucial turnover on the very next possession and feed Jaylen Wells in transition for the acrobatic finish at the rim to make it a six point game, the largest of the half for the Seawolves. Again, the bench was on it's feet as it looked like SSU might begin to stretch their lead and take control of the game. Unfortunately, that would not be the case as Kaito Williams connected on a three ball for East Bay to make it a one point game. But back came Sonoma State as Jeremy Lillis would pull up in the paint and knock down the jumper to extend their lead back up to five. Zack Perlstein would end the Seawolves momentum again with an absolute bomb from 30 plus feet to make it a two point game. The chaos would eventually pause as a media timeout would occur at the ten minute mark to allow for both teams to rest and regroup after the two minute slug fest they both endured.

Despite double figures from Jaylen Wells in the second half and a 41 point performance from the Seawolves offense, the Pioneers would go on a game sealing 13-0 run shortly after that two minute flurry of buckets and seal the win, 80-69. East Bay went 4-7 from three with the majority of those coming from Perlstein, but they finished shooting over 50% in the second half to shoot their way to a tough win on the road. SSU shot over 40% from three and 50% from the field but couldn't get stops when they needed them most. The Pioneers ended up outscoring SSU 22-16 in bench points and 15-11 in fast break points. Free throws were another key factor down the stretch as the Pioneers would finish the game with an efficient 80% from the line making 20 of their 25 attempts to put the game to bed.

Jaylen Wells had a big second half for Sonoma State to help him finish with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Jeremy Lillis caught fire in the second half as well as he had 12 of his 19 points during that stretch. Lillis started to let it fly from deep as he finished 2-4 from beyond the arc. Nick Klarman went 3-8 from the field for 11 points while Preston Blakely added 10 of his own off the bench shooting an efficient 4-5 from the field.   

Sonoma State falls to 3-20 on the season and 3-14 in CCAA play. The Seawolves will return to the Wolves' Den this Saturday on February 12th as they take on the Toros of Cal State Dominguez Hills. Fans will be ALLOWED back in the Wolves' Den on that date so be sure to purchase your tickets HERE or at sonomaseawolves.com/tickets. Live stats 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. Sonoma State athletics also has launched a new fan app in partnership with From Now On. Download the free app today in both the Apple and Google Play stores by searching Sonoma State Seawolves in the app store. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation