SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. – On Thursday, January 19th, the Sonoma State men's basketball team took on their first nationally ranked opponent of the season against the 15th ranked Coyotes of Cal State San Bernardino. With an improving scoring offense and the league's leading scorer, the Seawolves would go stride-for-stride with San Bernardino in the first half. A 14-4 run though within the first five minutes of the second half would give the Coyotes their largest lead of the game at 13 points, and they would never look back.  

FIRST HALF SSU 41-43 CSUSB:

Head coach Rich Shayewitz and his group would show no fear and jump out to a quick 7-2 lead, 5 points coming from the conference's leading scorer in Jaylen Wells. Wells would connect on a deep catch-and-shoot three ball from the top of the arc to give SSU the early 5-point lead. On the Seawolves next possession junior forward Austin Fadal would add to that lead and hit a tough runner in the lane late in the shot clock, shocking the Yotes to an early 9-2 lead. The 15th ranked team in the nation would answer though with an 11-3 run to quickly retake a one-point lead.  

Entering under the ten-minute mark, the Seawolves would prove to be the aggressor for much of the first half, holding multiple five and six point leads with San Bernardino playing from behind. After a pair of free throws from Wells giving SSU a 5-point lead with under five to play, the Coyotes would go on a quick 10-2 run including 2 three pointers to retake a three-point lead. For the final minutes of the half, the Coyotes would maintain their lead with answer after answer and finish the half with a 43-41 lead. 

Both teams would finish over 47% from the field for an entertaining and high scoring first half. Sonoma State would shoot 56% from the field and knock down a trio of three balls, but San Bernardino caught fire late and were able to shoot 50% from three to maintain their two-point lead.   

FINAL SSU 74-85 CSUSB: 

An early turnover and a 5-0 run to start the second half would prompt a quick timeout from head coach Rich Shayewitz. The timeout would serve its purpose for the Seawolves as Jaylen Wells would come out of the break with a big wing three ball to cut the deficit back to just two. 

Both teams would trade buckets for the next several minutes with the Seawolves now playing from behind. At the 14-minute mark, Austin Fadal would get going and grab an offensive board and the put back to make it a four-point game. Four points would go on to be the closest the Seawolves would get for the remainder of the game as San Bernardino would go on a momentous 9-0 run, leaving SSU scoreless for nearly three minutes of action. The Coyotes would build up a 13-point lead during that stretch and force another Seawolf timeout. 

The lead would grow to as many as 15 in the final 8 minutes of play, but the Seawolves would claw their way back into the game, cutting the deficit to single digits several times in the closing minutes. Under the two-minute mark, Sonoma State would inbound the ball quickly after a made dunk from San Bernardino and junior transfer Julian Bryant would slip a great bounce pass into the cutting Wells for the layup and the foul. Wells would convert the free throw and cut the lead to just seven. 

On the ensuing possession, the Coyotes would shut the door with a three-point play of their own after breaking the Seawolves full court press. A tough left-handed finish and the foul would jump the lead back to 10 points and put the game out of reach with roughly a minute to play. SSU would ultimately fall to the 15th ranked Coyotes 74-85 after leading for several parts of the game and putting up a 40-point first half.    

BY THE NUMBERS:

Sophomore phenom Jaylen Wells continues to make his case for Player of the Year as he leads the conference in scoring with 22.2 points per game. Tonight, the 6-foot-7 forward from Sacramento made some more history as he went for a career high 38 points, going down as his 4th 30-point game this season. Even more impressively, Wells continues to score with outstanding efficiency, shooting over 50% from the field and a career high 40% from three-point range. He would add 8 rebounds and 3 steals to his stat line against the Coyotes and also convert a career high 16 free throws as he leads the CCAA with an 87% free throw percentage.  

Austin Fadal would finish with 11 points in his 35 minutes of action while freshman Nick Medeiros and junior Julian Bryant would combine for 10 assists in the contest, spreading the scoring around all night long. The 5 assists for Bryant would go down as a season high, second highest total on the season for Medeiros. 

After 15 made field goals in the first half, the Seawolves would run cold for much of the second and finish just 9-29 from the field. The Coyotes did not shoot the ball particularly well from the permitter in the second half, but they would outscore SSU in the paint, 46-26, helping build a lead as many as 15 in the second half. The Yotes also looked to play with pace whenever they could and as a result, outscored Sonoma State 20-11 on the fast break.       

LOOK AHEAD:

Sonoma State falls to 8-9 overall and 7-4 in CCAA play after dropping their road trip opener to the 15th ranked Coyotes of Cal State San Bernardino. The Seawolves will remain down south and take on Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday, January 21st at 3:00 PM. Live stats, stream, and ticket links can all be found at sonomaseawolves.com on the men's basketball schedule page. As always you can stream the game LIVE on the CCAA Network. 

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