Seven points was all it took to make the Gators’ fourth-place spot a little too crowded–-Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal Poly Pomona now share the stop--possibly giving up SF State's chance to host a 2008 CCAA Championship Tournament game at the Swamp.

The men’s basketball played a game of catch-up with the Cal State Dominguez Toros all the way up to overtime, but lost their momentum before the final overtime buzzer sounded losing 81-74.

“We had a good finish to regulation and were hoping our momentum would carry over,” coach Bill Treseler said.

The Gators and Toros were tied up 67-all when overtime began, but Cal State Dominguez Hills outscored SF State 14-7 in the next five minutes.

Freshman point guard Rob Hayes had 24 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Gators while Chris Rodriguez grabbed four from the boards and put up 13 points of his own. Alex Thomas had a dozen points, six assists and a couple rebounds to help keep the Gators in the game.

“They’re [Cal State Dominguez Hills] built around scoring at the low post,” Treseler said.

The strength of the Toros on the blocks forced the Gators to shoot outside the paint. Only 26 points were from the key–-even Rodriguez’s 13 points include six from the three point line–-but the Gators shot 45 percent from behind the arch. SF State was 26-for-63 from the field and 67 percent from the free throw line.

“They got into us. The pushed us outside,” Rodriguez said.

SF State had an early five-point lead but Cal State Dominguez Hills came back with a couple of quick layups to bring the game even. However, three tied scores and eight lead changes later left the Gators behind 42-34 at half.

Hayes paced the half with nine points and three rebounds while eight of the nine players who had seen time on the floor had added to the scoreboard. Marin Flores and Phoenix O’Rourke both had four points while Chris Rodriguez, Darryl Robinson and Ryan Wessels had pulled two from the boards.

The Gators didn’t take care of the ball and once again SF State opponents didn’t miss the opportunity to cash in on the Gators’ careless ball-handling–-the Toros made 23 points off 21 turnovers. The Gators had 14 points from the Toro’s 16 turnovers.

“We made little mistakes,” Rodriguez said. “Little mistakes we don’t usually make.”

The purple and gold cut the Dominguez Hills' 10-point lead down to a single point during the 26th minute of play only to fall behind again by seven, and continue to tie seven times and bounce the lead around a dozen times during the 45 minutes of play.

The Toros came into the match in a three-way tie for fifth place with Cal Poly Pomona and CSU Monterey Bay each only a game away from securing their own spot in the CCAA Championship Tournament. Cal State Dominguez Hills hasn’t been able to call themselves the champions since 1987 although they have made four appearances in the playoffs between 1987 and 1994. The Gators haven’t made an appearance in the tournament since they joined the CCAA in the mid-1990s.

Despite Friday and Saturday's loss to Cal State L.A. (15-10, 9-9), the Gators remained in fourth place in CCAA rankings, tied with CSU Dominguez Hills (15-9, 10-8) and Cal Poly Pomona (11-12, 10-8), and one game ahead of Cal State L.A. (15-10, 9-9) and CSU Monterey Bay (10-14, 9-9) and still a game behind UC San Diego (15-9, 11-7).

“Just like you got to let a big win go,” Treseler said “You got to let a tough loss go.”