A shaky defense wasn’t enough to compete with the cagey Cal State Monterey Bay, whose agile team left the SF State men’s basketball team on the short end of the 85-75 score at the final buzzer.

“A couple of times we got confused on screens and we didn’t give help,” Coach Bill Treseler said, “but sometimes good offense can beat good defense.” Cal State Monterey Bay (3-12, 2-7) runs a rarely-done offense with five guards on the floor using on-ball picks and screens to open up their players for jump shots rather than posting up on the blocks against bigger players, Treseler said.

Junior Guard Alex Thomas led the team with 16 points, seven assists, and five rebounds including five from behind the arc. “We knew they were an up-tempo team,” Thomas said. “They played well together and played hard. We didn’t get it done defensively.”

The return of senior forward Chris Rodriguez after a two-game absence returned with 11 points and two blocks for the struggling Gators. Freshman point guard Robert Hayes had 13 points along with junior forward Martin Flores who was 6-11 from the field and had five rebounds including a three point play in the first half.

“They’re a good team,” Rodriguez said. “Even though they don’t have a lot of depth. But we played to their tempo.”

Gator offense is designed to be most effective when plays are run calmly and with patience, according to Treseler. It’s a common error in college basketball for players to speed up when faced with a quick, tough rival, he said.

The Gators have been focusing on combating the speed of Cal State Monterey Bay and their offensive execution. “We had to play a different game,” Flores said.

Will Logan’s nine points and six rebounds, and Darryl Robinson's eight points, four rebounds and four assists, kept the Gators in the game until the last ten minutes.

The Cal State Monterey Bay Otter’s had a four point lead at half time – telling the tale of the other 20 minutes of play after a collapse of Gator defense and poor play execution. The Gators had 12 turnovers while fouling 21 times throughout the game.

Oakland native Joe Mitchell lead the Otters with 20 points while point guard D’Shon Cannon scored 14 points. “Every player on their team is a good offensive player,” Rodriguez said, “me and the team struggled on defense.”

The Gators were well-matched in rebounding, turnovers and steals, but missed the boat completely on free throws. Cal State Monterey Bay was 15-20 behind the line while SF State (10-6, 5-4) was 5-10. The Gators shot 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from the three point line compared to the Otters’ 54 percent from the field and 40 percent in threes.

“[Otters] were fighting for their lives,” Treseler said.

SF State goes on the road this weekend against the California College Athletics Association third-place team UC San Diego Tritons (9-4, 6-2) on Friday Jan. 25th at 7:30 p.m.