ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, February 11th, the Sonoma State men's basketball team took an 11-point lead into halftime, but were unable to get the offense going in the second half, scoring just 18 points and falling 55-66 to the Pioneers of Cal State East Bay. Despite back-to-back home losses on the weekend, the Seawolves still remain in 4th place in the conference standings and will control their own destiny heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
FIRST HALF SSU 37-26 CSUEB:
After a 9-7 start in favor of Sonoma State, they would record two straight buckets to take their biggest lead of the first half at 7 points. Junior forward
Pierce Rexford was at the heart of that offensive surge for the Seawolves, grabbing an offensive board for an easy lay in and then splashing a corner three ball on the very next possession. After 10 minutes of action, SSU started the game 50% from the field with a pair of three balls to maintain a 3-point lead.
After the under twelve media timeout, the Seawolves bench would make their impact on the game led by junior
Julian Bryant. Bryant would come off the bench for his first action of the game and score two quick buckets to jump the Seawolves lead back to 7. Under the four minute mark, Bryant would pass the baton to big man
Dillon Iyawe as he started to get things going inside. Iyawe would make a few strong post moves and finish the half with 6 points, while Bryant led all scorers with 9 at the break.
The Pioneers were a bit three ball happy in the first half but SSU held them to just 29% from downtown, while also outrebounding them 21-12 to take an 11-point lead into the break. The Seawolves did connect on four three pointers but they established themselves inside, outsourcing East Bay 20-8 in paint points and 11-5 in bench scoring.
FINAL SSU 55-66 CSUEB:
Despite an 1–point advantage at the break, the Pioneers would dart out on a 14-4 run to make it just a one-point game near the 11-minute mark. East Bay was still just 1-of-7 from three point range during that stretch, but were much more aggressive inside and on the glass. They would out-rebound SSU 13-6 to start the half and 6-3 on the offensive glass.
After recording just 5 turnovers in the entire first half, East Bay would force 5 more turnovers in the opening ten minutes of the second half, contributing to their 10-point comeback. Both teams would go on to trade blows for the remainder of the first half, leaving it just a two point game with under four to play.
After tying the game up at 51 a piece off of free throws from
Julian Bryant, East Bay would come back and score on three straight possessions to take a 6 point lead. One of which would include one of their 15 offensive rebounds that would lead to a two-handed slam. Sophomore phenom
Jaylen Wells would respond though and get the crowd back into the game with a two-handed slam of his own on a strong baseline drive. Wells's dunk would make it a four point game with two to play. The Seawolves would need a stop to stay in the game but instead would give up another offensive rebound, leading to a second chance three pointer from the Pioneers to take a 7 point lead.
Back-to-back ensuing turnovers would lead to a pair of Pioneer baskets to ultimately put the game away with 30 seconds remaining. The Seawolves would get outscored 40-18 in the second half to lose their second straight.
Jaylen Wells would lead the way with his 7th double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 10 boards.
Julian Bryant would add four more points in the second half to finish with 13 and the only other SSU player in double figures. Freshman guard
Nick Medeiros grabbed all 8 of his points in the first half and
Dillon Iyawe would finish with 6 points and 5 rebounds.
BY THE NUMBERS:
| Sonoma State |
Team |
Cal State East Bay |
| 36.4% |
FG% |
39.1% |
| 11-12 |
FT |
9-15 |
| 4-17 |
3PT |
7-26 |
| 14 |
TO |
8 |
| 26 |
Paint pts. |
30 |
| 38 |
Reb. |
40 |
| 11 |
Off. Reb. |
15 |
LOOKING AHEAD:
Sonoma State dropped their second straight home game to the Pioneers 55-66, falling to 10-14 overall and an even 9-9 in CCAA play. They will return to the Wolves' Den next week for their final two home games of the season against Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino. Tip-off against the Broncos is scheduled for Thursday, February 16th at 7:30 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.
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
CCAA Standings
