The Gators finally broke their split-season disease--sweeping this weekend against Chico State 66-61 on Friday and Stanislaus State 93-79 on Saturday. SF State is now tied for third with Humboldt State in the California Collegiate Athletic Association conference, their highest conference ranking in a decade.

Five Gators were in double-digit scoring at the final buzzer led by junior guard Alex Thomas with 21 points and eight rebounds, followed up by Will Logan’s contribution of 15 points; Martín Flores had 14 points, Chris Rodriguez chipped in 12 of his own and Robert Hayes had 10.

A hard-won four point lead at half, 44-40, speaks to the last eight minutes, rather than the rag-tag team playing for the first twelve. SF State (14-7, 9-5 CCAA) was temporarily slowed by Stanislaus State (4-16, 3-10 CCAA) zone defense – and something looking like lack of concentration.

“I think they really attacked, really played aggressive at the start,” Thomas said. “The second half we settled down on defense and we got into our game.”

Logan started the first half with a reverse lay-up, then a fade-away jumper from the short corner and proceeded to outdo himself after intermission with a stroll from downtown into the paint, a three-pointer and another reverse lay-up just for good measure.

“I’ve been telling myself I just need to play with more passion,” Logan said. “I love playing basketball.
And I should play like it.”

Logan, a six-foot three-inch, 200-pound junior guard, has proved himself over the past two seasons to be a solid player on defense. Logan’s 15 points was backed up with five rebounds, two steals and an assist during his 26 minutes of work.

By halftime, the Gator forwards had 24 combined points – eight from Rodriguez and Flores each with six from Derek Fletcher and two from Ryan Wessels – and 14 rebounds. Rodriguez and Flores fought hard on the offensive boards while Wessels and Fletcher took care of the defensive boards the first 20 minutes of play.

Rob Hayes sunk two from beyond the arc helping to push the Gators into 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 50 percent overall. Sophomore guard Kevin Piva added three points, gained three personal fouls with aggressive defense, two assists and a rebound.

“We were running in the mud,” head coach Bill Treseler said. “Kevin gave us a spark on both ends of the floor.” Piva entered the game during the 12th minute of play, sinking a three-point shot during the sixteenth minute– putting the Gators within a single point of the Warriors – and an assist to Flores gave the Gators their first lead of the night.

SF State blew Stanislaus State off the boards with 50 rebounds leaving only 24 rebounds for the Warriors. The Gators had 21 turnovers while the Warriors failed to hold the ball 13 times.

It was a near-perfect night from the free throw line -- Flores and Thomas was a perfect 6-for-6, Rodriguez and Robinson were 4-for-4 and Ryan Wessels and Logan were both 2-for-2.

The Swamp had a small but enthusiastic crowd that was joined by a dozen musicians to keep up the volume for SF State’s post-homecoming game. SF State men’s basketball heads to the road challenging Sonoma State on Friday Feb. 15 and Humboldt State on Saturday, Feb. 16 before heading down to Los Angeles for their second weekend away in a row.