Kris Gallop flushes two of his 11 points with a second half dunk in Friday’s 78-72 win over San Francisco State.
BOX SCORE
CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 78, SAN FRANCISCO ST. 72
FINAL BOX SCORE |
|
SCOREBOARD |
1 |
2 |
OT |
FINAL |
|
San Francisco State (8-6, 6-5 CCAA) |
37 |
35 |
|
72 |
|
Cal St. Monterey Bay (6-8, 4-7 CCAA) |
31 |
47 |
|
78 |
|
|
TOP PERFORMERS |
|
|
SEASIDE, Calif. — With top player
Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) out nursing a minor injury, the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team rallied without their missing star to defeat visiting San Francisco State 78–72 Friday night in The Kelp Bed.
It was a key win for CSUMB (6–8, 4–7 CCAA), which pulled to within two games of SFSU (8–6, 6–5) in the chase for the final CCAA Tournament berth.
Swingman
Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) led the Otters for the ninth time this season with 17 points, though he was far from a one–man show. CSUMB also got a season–high 13 points off then bench from
Devin Murphy (Sacramento/Sierra College), 11 points each from
Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College) and
Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS) and a season–high 10 rebounds from
Jorey Scott (Reno, Nev./Palomar College).
The Otters needed every one of those efforts to offset 24 points by Gator senior Will Overton and 19 from Calvin Otiono.
An even bigger factor than the Otter offense was the defense played on SFSU All–America candidate Nefi Perdomo. Perdomo entered the game averaging a CCAA–leading 22.1 points per game, but scored just four points on 2–of–9 shooting against the CSUMB defense.
SFSU took a 37–31 lead into the lockerroom and expanded its advantage to 10 points, 41–31, on an Overton 3–pointer 96 seconds into the second half. That's when CSUMB made the game's decisive run.
Nitz scored six consecutive points as the catalyst of a 21–5 spurt that put the Otters ahead to stay, 52-46 with just under 10 minutes to play. A Nitz 3–ball with eight minutes remaining made it 57–50 and the Gators never held the ball closer than three possession of the lead for the balance of the game.
CSUMB will look to run its winning streak to a season–high three games when it concludes a brief 2–game homestand by hosting Sonoma State Saturday night in The Kelp Bed. Tip–off is set for 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of men's/women's doubleheader action.
GO OTTERS!
