TURLOCK, CALIF. – On Saturday, February 4th, the Sonoma State men's basketball team went toe-to-toe against a streaking Stanislaus State team to pick up their 10th win of the season while setting some season bests in the process. SSU's
Pierce Rexford continued his hot shooting hand and had himself a career night, finishing with a team high 25 points on a staggering 10 of 12 shooting. The Seawolves remain in a tie for third place in the conference standings as they put together one of their best shooting nights of the season in a massive road test.
FIRST HALF SSU 42-41 STAN:
Despite the result, the Seawolves struggled out of the gate and found themselves in a 7-point hole with 12 minutes to play in the first half. After an SSU timeout, the Warriors would keep their momentum rolling with back-to-back buckets to extend their lead all the way to 11 points.
Slowly but surely though, Sonoma State would continue to chip away and get timely stops to work the deficit back to within a couple scores. A pair of free throws from DI transfer
Austin Fadal followed by a three ball from sharpshooter
Pierce Rexford would slice Stanislaus's lead to just three. Rexford would play solid baseline defense and force a dribble out of bands for the turnover. He would then come back down the floor and knock down a catch-and-shoot three ball from the right wing to make it a three-point game.
Head coach
Rich Shayewitz and his group would continue to scratch and claw as both teams traded buckets in a high scoring first half. The Seawolves would finally gain some momentum just before the first half buzzer, as they would record two straight baskets to end the half and take a one-point lead, their first since it was 5-4 SSU in the three minutes of the game.
The conference's leading scorer,
Jaylen Wells, would slice through the zone defense of the Warriors for a floater in the lane. That shot would fall just off the right side of the rim but he would follow it up and get his own tip-in. After getting a stop on the defensive end, Shayewitz would call a timeout for the final shot of the half and a chance to take the lead.
The Seawolves would look over the top as junior center
Dillon Iyawe would seal underneath the basket. Iyawe would catch the lob from Wells but with a poor angle under the hoop, he would kick it to the corner for Rexford would connect on his 4th three of the half, giving SSU the one-point lead at the break.
FINAL SSU 81-78 STAN:
Both teams would continue to score the ball at will in the second half but the Seawolves would flip the script and hold much of the lead with the Warriors trailing for the majority of the half.
We fast forward to under the four-minute mark with SSU clinging to a one-point lead. After a Stanislaus bucket, freshman point guard
Nick Medeiros would get lost in the Warriors zone defense and leak out to the right corner. He would knock down a huge catch-and-shoot three ball right in front of his bench to give Sonoma State a 77-73 lead.
Once again the Warriors would answer on the other end with a clutch jumper to make it a two-point game with under three to play. On the ensuing possession,
Jaylen Wells would attempt a deep wing three pointer and be long off the back iron. Big man
Dillon Iyawe would do the dirty work inside and get a huge tip out to midcourt to secure the offensive board.
Nick Medeiros would secure the ball and after resetting the offense, he would drive hard to his left and put up a tough floater in the lane. The attempt would fall just off the left side of the rim but Wells would fly in for the tip-in layup, giving SSU another crucial four-point lead.
Stanislaus State would make it interesting after a pair of timeouts as they hit a three pointer with just 40 seconds remaining in regulation. On the other end, Wells would take over and spin to the hoop for an acrobatic layup attempt. His layup would rim out but once again he would attack the glass and soar for his own offensive board. Wells would get fouled in the process and knock down some clutch free throws to make it 81-78.
The Warriors would hoist up a contested three on the other end as time expired, but the Seawolves would come from behind and hold on for the gutsy road victory, 81-78. Wells was held in check for most of the night, but he had an impactful second half with a huge tip-in as wells as some big free throws to help seal the win.
Sacramento native
Pierce Rexford continues to shine as he stands as one of the hottest shooters on the team as of late. Rexford would finish with a career night, scoring 25 points and missing just two shots as he went 10 of 12 from the field.
The Seawolves were also monsters on the offensive glass, pulling down big rebounds and creating extra possessions all night. Center
Dillon Iyawe grabbed 7 boards on the night including the huge tip-out that led to the Wells tip-in with under two to play.
Rexford might've stolen the show, but junior transfer
Austin Fadal also had a huge night for the Seawolves. Fadal went 7 of 12 from the field to finish with his 4th 20-point game of the season. He also went a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line, second most in a game this season. Medeiros's three ball late in the second half gave him 10 points on the night, his first double-digit game since January 14th against Cal State LA.
BY THE NUMBERS:
| Sonoma State |
Team |
Stanislaus State |
| 54.4 |
FG% |
56.4 |
| 52.6 |
3PT% |
43.5 |
| 9-9 |
FT |
6-9 |
| 11 |
TO |
5 |
| 31 |
REB. |
20 |
The three-point victory was a complete team win for the Seawolves as they out rebounded the Warriors, shot better from three-point range and from the free throw line. Shayewitz and his group would tie their season high with 10 made three's, and finish with their highest 3PT% at 53%, going 10 for 19.
Shayewitz also picked up the team's 10th win of the season, the program's first 10-win season since 2018.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Seawolves salvage the weekend road trip with a massive 81-78 victory over Stanislaus State, improving to 10-12 overall and 9-7 in CCAA play. SSU returns home next weekend to face off against Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State East Bay. They will take on the Toros at 7:30 PM on Thursday, February 9th. 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
