SAN MARCOS, Calif. – A triple-overtime affair did not fall in favor of the Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team as the Cougars fell 89-88 to San Francisco State in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play on Saturday evening at The Sports Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Darius Goudeau – 24 points | 6 rebounds
Marcus Brown – 13 points | 7 rebounds | 3 steals | 2 assists
Darae Elliott – 12 points | 6 rebounds | 2 blocked shots
Jayce McCain – 12 points | 6 rebounds | 2 assists
Bryce Sloan – 11 points | 3 assists | 3 rebounds | 2 steals
  
HOW IT HAPPENED

• A 3-pointer by Sloan gave the Cougars a 19-9 lead with 8:13 remaining in the first half.
• The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 34-20 on a Sean Dunn layup with 2:48 to go in the first half.
• The Cougars were 5-of-12 from behind the 3-point line in the first 20 minutes, helping them to a 36-25 halftime lead.
• SF State opened the second half with a 13-2 run to knot the game at 38-all with 14:44 remaining.
• Down 61-57 with 3:09 remaining, Elliott tallied back-to-back layups to even the game at 61-all with two minutes on the clock.
• SF State's Linton Acliese responded with a layup with 1:40 remaining in the game.
• Alex Gil-Fernandez's layup with 29 seconds on the clock evened the game at 63-all. 
• A missed jumper at the buzzer by Acliese sent the game into overtime. 
• Back-to-back 3-pointers by McCain and Goudeau put CSUSM up 69-66 in the first overtime with 3:19 on the clock.
• Acliese and DJ Sylvester each made a pair of free throws to once again even the game at 69-all with 2:24 left in the first overtime.
• A McCain free throw followed by a Goudeau layup gave the lead back to CSUSM at 72-71 with 21.6 remaining in overtime.
• SF State's Jordan Balser evened the game at 72-all with a free throw to send the game into a second overtime.
• McCain's jumper at 3:55 was the first bucket in the second overtime and gave CSUSM a 74-72 lead.
• A second-chance layup by Eche Okeke followed by Sylvester's jumper gave the lead back to SF State at 76-74 with 1:15 remaining.
• Balser sank a pair of free throws to extend SF State's lead to 78-74 with 38 seconds remaining.
• Goudeau's 3-pointer from the corner cut the Gators' lead to 78-77 with 27 seconds on the clock.
• After a CSUSM foul, Okeke only made the backend of his two free throws to make it 79-77.
• The Cougars respond with a Goudeau jumper to even the game at 79-all with 10.8 seconds on the clock.
• SF State missed a three as time expired in the second overtime.
• Goudeau connected on both free throws to give CSUSM an 81-79 lead to begin the third overtime.
• SF State's Zane Paddon sank a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give the Gators the lead at 82-81.
• A Brown dunk gave CSUSM the lead once again at 86-84 with 2:42 remaining in triple overtime.
• Paddon sank his second 3-pionter of the game to give SF State the lead once again at 89-88 with 56 seconds remaining.
• An offensive foul by the Cougars gave the Gators possession with 34 seconds remaining.
• CSUSM was unable to make an offensive play in the final 34 seconds as SF State left the game with the win.

 
FAST BREAKS

• CSUSM falls to 4-3 (0-2 CCAA) while SF State improves to 3-3 (1-1 CCAA).  
• The Cougars last went to overtime in the quarterfinals of the 2018 CCAA Tournament and fell in double overtime to the Gators.
• This was CSUSM's first triple-overtime game in program history.
• The Gators improve their winning streak over the Cougars to four games.
• For the game, SF State had the better field-goal percentage at 40.8% (31-of-76) while CSUSM shot 38% (30-of-79).
• The Cougars scored 21 points off the Gators' 19 turnovers while tallying 18 second-chance points.
• SF State held a slight advantage on rebounds at 52-51, but CSUSM tallied 16 offensive boards to the Gators' 13.
• The Cougars had the advantage in both assists (15-11) and steals (11-9).
• Overall, there were 22 lead changes and 17 tie scores.

 
UP NEXT
The Cougars return to the road next week, traveling to RV/No. 19 Azusa Pacific on Tuesday. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. at the Felix Event Center.