ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Thursday, December 7th, the Sonoma State men's basketball team came within eight points in an early second half surge but the 10th ranked Wildcats would pull away and shoot 63% from the field in the second half to secure the 15-point victory. The Seawolves got off to a tough start from the field, making just three of their first eleven shots but their zone defense generated some early Chico State turnovers to keep the deficit within single digits. 

FIRST HALF SSU 33-44 CHICO

Effective ball movement from the 10th ranked Wildcats would begin to break down SSU's zone defense and with the lead bouncing back and forth between single and double digits, Chico State would go on a momentous 19-6 run to swell their lead to 18 with four minutes left in the half. The Seawolves would go on a 5-0 run though and get a pair of stops to conclude the half and cut the deficit to eleven to take some momentum into the break. 

The Wildcats had a near flawless first half, despite ten turnovers, they finished over 50% from the field, 90% from the free throw line and connected on five three balls compared to just one for Sonoma State. Some clutch bench scoring would also keep the Seawolves in the game, outscoring the Chico State bench 19-11. 

FINAL SSU 72-87 CHICO

After the break, both teams would trade early buckets but the Seawolves would connect on their first three field goal attempts to cut the deficit to single digits. Possessions later, second year center Dillon Iyawe would get his first bucket of the game off a strong offensive rebound and putback. The Seawolves would get a stop on the other end but miss a pair of layups on the ensuing possession which would've cut the deficit to just six. The Wildcats would go on an 8-2 scoring run after that to grow the lead back to 14 and regain control of the game. 

The lead would grow to as many as 22 points late in the half as the Seawolves just didn't have enough juice on the night to pull off the comeback. The three ball continued to be a problem as SSU finished just 4-20 on the night, their worst performance of the season from beyond the arc. They would outscore the Wildcats 40-28 in the paint though and finish 63% from the field in the second half. 

Leading the bench scoring for Sonoma State were guards Matt Williams III and Nick Medeiros. Williams is in his first year with the Seawolves program as a transfer from San Francisco City College and got quality playing time to lead the team with 16 points on 5-7 shooting. Medeiros has continued to score effectively coming off the bench and helped lead the early second half surge to get the deficit to single digits. He finished with 13 points on 4-7 shooting. Cameron Barry and Julian Bryant led the team's starting five with eight points a piece on the night. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Sonoma State fall back to .500 on the season, 4-4 overall and 1-2 in CCAA play. They finish the weekend at home this Saturday against Cal Poly Humboldt. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 PM and tickets can be bought online at sonomaseawolves.com/tickets. You can stream the game LIVE on the CCAA Network. 

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