ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Thursday, January 18th, the Sonoma State men's basketball team got balanced scoring up and down the lineup to end their two game skid and knock off Cal State East Bay 65-61.
Andrew Henderson led the way with 15 points, 10 of which came in the second half, and
Pierce Rexford also chipped in a season high 10 points with a pair of triples on the night.
FIRST HALF SSU 32-29 CSUEB
The Seawolves came out hot starting a perfect 3-3 from the field to jump out to a 9-0 lead. Senior center
Dillon Iyawe got going with two quick buckets inside and then Berkeley product
Julian Bryant splashed home a three ball to force an early Pioneers timeout. East Bay would answer out of the timeout though with a 7-1 run to get right back in the game. They would eventually knot the game 13 off a transition layup just under the twelve minute mark.
Henderson would start this game on the bench but come in and make an immediate impact with five quick points to retake the lead. Under the seven minute mark, the Seawolves would start to grow their lead again and off of an East Bay turnover,
Pierce Rexford would hit a corner three from
Terence Haywood to extend their lead to nine, their largest of the half.
The Pioneers would close the half though on a crucial 10-5 run with some big paint buckets and free throw shooting to make it a three point game at the break. Not one SSU player finished the half in double figures but five different players had at least four points as the team finished over 40% from the field with four three's to maintain the lead.
FINAL SSU 65-61 CSUEB
The Pioneers would go on a 6-2 run to start the second half to take their first lead of the game but SSU would respond with an 8-0 run of their own highlighted by back-to-back three's from senior transfer
Cameron Barry. The Seawolves wouldn't look back and maintain their lead the rest of the way.
The lead would grow to as many as ten off a strong drive and finish from
Julian Bryant at the twelve minute mark. East Bay would make a late push and cut the lead to just three but Henderson would knock down seven free throws in the final two minutes of regulation to ice the game. He would finish with a team high 15 points and 10 boards for his second double-double of the season.
The Seawolves also hit seven three's on the night with
Pierce Rexford and
Cameron Barry combining for four triples in crucial parts of the game.
Dillon Iyawe also had his way inside finishing 5-6 from the field for his 10 points. Shayewitz and his defense have held opponents to under 65 points in three of their previous four games and will look for the weekend sweep against bay area rival San Francisco State on Saturday.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sonoma State improves to 9-7 overall and even out their conference record at 5-5. They will conclude the homestand on Saturday against San Francisco State at 3:00 PM. Tickets can be bought online at sonomaseawolves.com/tickets and 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
