ROHNERT PARK, CALIF.- Sonoma State Men's Basketball has battled through a brutal two game week in which they faced #19 Cal State San Bernardino on Thursday night and tipped off against the #25 Broncos of Cal Poly Pomona. Despite falling to the Broncos, the Seawolves defense, rebounding and overall grit pushed Cal Poly to the brink in a competitive showdown that featured all the reasons why college basketball is special!

Things started off slow for Sonoma as the Broncos quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead. A Nick Medieros pull up jumper and a Jakob Milling three pointer would help stabilize the Seawolves offense and then the team came alive against their ranked opponent. Once the second half got underway Sonoma clawed their way back into the game thanks to outstanding defense and crashing the glass on both ends of the court. Sonoma would come away with seven consecutive stops to start the second half holding the Broncos without a field goal for the first four minutes of the half. They limited Cal Poly to just 22% shooting from the floor and 1-9 from deep. The other big factor of the game was an emphasis on tracking down rebounds on offense and defense. For the game, the team pulled in 44 rebounds, 16 of which came on the offensive glass. Nine different players recorded at least one offensive rebound with Terrance Haywood grabbing four himself. Overall, it was a great defensive effort that saw Sonoma hold their ranked opponent to a sub-40% shooting performance from the floor and an even more impressive 25% from behind the arc.

Leading the way for coach Shayewitz was Julian Bryant. Bryant has been playing outstanding basketball over his last six games and against the Broncos he was arguably the best player on the court for Sonoma. Playing a team high 41 minutes, Bryant scored 17 points on 64% shooting. He was also dynamic as a playmaker thanks to a game high five assists. Most importantly, Bryant spent the entire game guarding the Broncos top perimeter scoring options and did so while only committing three fouls despite the game reaching two overtime periods. 

Alongside Bryant, the pair of Donovan Sevilla and Aaron Ragen have continued to bring a competitive edge along the perimeter. Sevilla competed all night long on the defensive end of the court and made multiple second efforts that led to stops on the defensive end or big time rebounds to keep possessions alive. Ragen took a few games to find his shooting stroke but he has come alive from behind the arc. The transfer from West Valley College hit some of the biggest shots of the game. The first came with roughly a minute remaining in the first overtime period when Ragen drilled a shot from behind the arc to tie the game at 70 apiece. His second came in the second overtime when he caught a pass from Haywood and rose up to knock down his second three of the game.

When talking about big shots it is impossible to not mention Seawolves starting forward Jakob Milling as well. Milling posted his first double-double with Sonoma and was a force on the glass, especially during the second half. With Sonoma coming up with huge stops, Milling was able to capitalize with 10 rebounds. He also did a great job of taking care of the ball despite it being in his hands quite a bit with zero turnovers. On top of that, Milling scored 15 points including the two biggest shots of the game. With 30 seconds on the clock in the second half and trailing by three points, Julian Bryant found Milling on the wing and the Frenchman rose up over his defender to tie the game. His second game-tying bucket was arguably more impressive in the first overtime. With just eight seconds left, Milling took an inbounds pass the length of the court and as the buzzer sounded laid the ball up to push the game to the second extra frame. For the night, Milling finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Despite being unable to pull out the win, coach Shayewitz's squad has clearly taken positive steps after back to back tough matchups. The defense has been outstanding over the course of two top 25 matchups. The team's depth has begun to step up with players like Sevilla, Ragen and Chris Holley making big plays when their numbers have been called. The boys will enjoy some time off with their next matchup coming on the road as they head down to Cal State San Marcos on December 21st!