Photo Courtesy of SF State Athletics/Brandon Davis
The No. 4 SF State men’s basketball team will play host to No. 5 Cal State Los Angeles in the quarterfinals of the 2018-19 CCAA Men’s Basketball Championship on Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m from The Swamp.
The top-8 teams in the conference knew they would advance to the playoffs coming into Saturday, March 2, but seeding was a toss up — needing Saturday’s matchups to determine who would win the regular season championship, as well as which programs would host at their respective sites.
In their final game of the season, the Gators took on Humboldt State in Arcata, Calif., with SF State eking out a 71-67 win.
Led by 18 points apiece from graduate guard Jiday Ugbaja and redshirt junior center Tyler Jackson, SF State closed the regular season on a high note.
The 18 points for Jackson set a new career-high for the big man, as he also tied a career-high with nine rebounds.
Fueled by their stingy defense, the Gators held the Lumberjacks to just 38.6 percent shooting from the field and 16.7 percent from deep.
It’s the 14th game this season SF State held their opponent to under 40 percent shooting from the field, where they are 12-2 in such instances.
The Gators will look toward facing the Cal State LA Golden Eagles on Tuesday, their third matchup of the season against them. SF State swept the season series between the two programs with an 88-79 win and a 76-74 win.
If SF State advances out of the quarterfinals, they will face the winner of the No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona/No. 8 Humboldt State matchup on Friday, March 8 at 8:05 p.m.
A CCAA Championship appearance would take place on Saturday, March 9 at 7:35 p.m.
Winners of their respective quarterfinal matchups will travel to Pioneer Gymnasium at Cal State East Bay in Hayward, Calif., where the semifinals and championship game will take place.