The San Francisco State University men’s basketball team chose an unfortunate time to go on a scoring drought as they lost their third game to start the season, this time at the hands of the Vanguard University Lions, 72-61.
The Gators took a 59-58 lead following junior guard Milandev Chatha’s three-point play with 8:48 left in the second half. From that point to the final buzzer, the Gators didn’t make another basket, going 0-of-7. Of those seven shots, six of them were from three-point range. The only two points scored came from junior forward Bricen Buciak at the free-throw line.
“It’s disappointing, but at the end of the day, we’ve been playing better than we have in the past, so it’s a step in the right direction,” said junior forward Mason Harris, who finished with four points.
The Gators’ defense put them in position to win the game, holding the Lions to just 39% shooting and 22% from three-point range.
“I thought defensively [this] was by far our best effort with our young group,” said head coach Vince Inglima. “[I’m] super proud of how hard we played, how together we were and how we competed.”
The second half featured four lead changes. Despite Vanguard missing their first 11 shots from beyond the arc, the Gators weren’t able to pull away from the Lions. Nonetheless, Vanguard head coach Rhett Soliday was happy with the way his team closed the game.
“The one thing we did was we did create a little offense off of our defense later in the game, and that gave us a little separation,” Soliday said.
Soliday credits his team’s play against two of the Gators’ leading scorers, Fed Pernell and Chatha, limiting them to just 22 points combined.
Vanguard senior guard Bryson Metz finished with 14 points, tied for the most on their team. But the 5-foot-10-inch, Vancouver, Washington, native also made his presence felt on the glass, finishing with six rebounds.
As for the Gators, Buciak led all scorers with 15 points but picked up his fourth foul with 7:34 left in the game, forcing him to sit for almost four minutes in the midst of the Gators’ scoring drought.
Just before halftime, the Gators played arguably their best stretch of basketball of the season, going on an 8-0 run, cutting the Lions’ lead to just one. During that run, Pernell took control of the offense with six points and assisted Chatha for a layup.
“[Pernell] really is our pacemaker,” Inglima said. “He’s a super talented player, he’s been doing a really nice job… moving the ball and getting other people involved.”
During the middle of the first half, an accidental head-to-head collision between Pernell and Lions guard Aibigho Ujadughele left both players having to wear bandages on their faces, but they remained in the game.
After the game, Pernell said he didn’t feel any repercussions of the impact and was happy to finish the game. He said he also believes the team’s first win is coming soon.
“I think we’re really close to turning a corner; we’ve been focusing on some new keys and playing with all-out effort and more energy,” Pernell said.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Gators, as their next three games will be away from the Swamp. First, they face the Division I Sacramento State Hornets on Tuesday. Then, after Thanksgiving, they play back-to-back games against non-conference opponents, Fresno Pacific and Menlo College, at Haynes-Prim Pavilion on the campus of Menlo College.
