The Gators rallied from five points down late in the second half to win by 10, 68-58, in overtime against the UC San Diego Tritons (11-6, 6-4) on Friday night.

A tough loss on Wednesday night against Cal State Monterey Bay (3-12, 2-7) left SF State (11-6, 6-4) men’s basketball cautious about the game – and looking forward to an opportunity for a big win against UCSD, who hadn’t lost any of its seven home games this season.

“They’re a very good team with a good shot,” coach Bill Treseler said. “We wanted to use our quickness to disrupt their rhythm…their timing. We wanted to make sure they couldn’t run their offense or just drive the ball in.”

The four Gator forwards, Chris Rodriguez, Martin Flores, Derek Fletcher and Ryan Wessels, claimed 26 of the 42 total rebounds along with 35 points combined. Rodriguez dominated with 15 points, eight rebounds, and two assists, while Flores had 12 points and five rebounds. From the bench Fletcher added powered with eight rebounds and four points and Wessels claimed five rebounds and four points.

“We thought our post players could do some damage,” Treseler said. “We knew the guards could feed them the ball. Our players are really unselfish that way.”

The Gator’s saw a temporary reprieve from their ever-present free throw woes — shooting a season record 82 percent from behind the line. Rodriguez was 5-of-6 from the line, including two shots during the last minute of the game to force overtime. Phoenix O’Rourke’s 5-of-6 pushed the Gators into the lead during OT. Robert Hayes was 4-of-4, while Flores was 2-of-3, and Will Logan was 2-of-2.

Both teams were shut down from the three-point line in the first half but UCSD’s Kelvin Kim, a UCLA transfer, warmed up the line with back-to-back threes in second half. Rodriguez answered with two of his own, followed by Thomas and Hayes hitting their own from behind the arc.

“I think we played with a lot of resilience,” Thomas said. “We played great defense and had good shots down the stretch.”

At half time the Gators and Tritons were at a 20-all stalemate. Thomas, Wessels, and Fletcher had four points each. Both teams had shot 55 times at the end of the first half, but SF State was out-shooting the Tritons 23-18, continuing to do so throughout the game by more than 10 percent from the field and free-throw line and 12 percent from behind the arc.

“Fletcher and Ryan stepped up big,” Rodriguez said. “Because I was in foul trouble early. They really stepped it up.”

The Gators rose to the occasion during the overtime period by shooting 80 percent from the field and behind the line. SF State shot 36 percent from the field during the first half and 40 percent during the second. The Gators out rebounded UCSD 18-15 in the first half and 42-33 before the final buzzer.