SAN FRANCISCO -- Cal State LA's men's basketball team made a bit of history Tuesday night in one of the wildest California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament games the Golden Eagles have ever been a part of.
The Golden Eagles overcame a pair of power outages in San Francisco State's Main Gym at Don Nasser Plaza and outlasted host San Francisco State, 81-76, in a nearly three-and-a-half hour marathon. The game was halted due to a power outage for 40 minutes with the Golden Eagles trailing, 50-49, with 9:43 remaining in regulation and again for five minutes with the Golden Eagles trailing 63-60 with 3:56 to go.
Cal State LA, though, just kept battling and some late-game heroics by
Shacquille Dawkins proved to be the difference. After missing a pair of free throws with four seconds left that might have won the game in regulation, Dawkins scored all 11 points for the Golden Eagles in the overtime, including a big 3-pointer and four free throws in four attempts and Cal State LA surged into the tournament semi-finals.
"They never, ever quit," Cal State LA head coach
Jim Saia said. "I've coached a lot of great teams and this is the most resilient group I've ever coached."Â
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Cal State LA (18-11) also overcame some daunting numbers. The Golden Eagles were just 2-12 in 12 previous tournament appearances with road wins over Chico State in 2016 and Cal State San Bernardino in 2011 as the only tournament wins before Tuesday. Cal State LA has never made it past the semi-finals, but will taking its third attempt at reaching a tourney final later this week.
The Golden Eagles were 0-3 against the Gators in three previous CCAA Tournament meetings, including a 93-67 blowout in 2017 in San Francisco. They were also 0-2 against the Gators this season and 0-7 against San Francisco State over the past three seasons.
Also, they hadn't won in San Francisco since Feb. 24, 2012.
"I didn't know that," Dawkins said when informed of the Golden Eagles' lack of success against the Gators. "I give all the credit to my teammates and my coaches. It was a team effort."
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On Tuesday, they overcame a slow start and never flinched after trailing early, 18-8. They cut the deficit to 33-29 at halftime and finally pulled even at 43-43 after a layup by Dawkins. A 3-pointer by
Devin Means tied it again at 48-48 and they trailed by one point, 50-49, after a free throw by Woods, with 9:43 to go when the power went out.
When play finally resumed, the Golden Eagles took awhile to get going again and they trailed by three points, 63-60, when the power went out again. This break was much shorter and the Golden Eagles eventually took their first lead at 68-67 after a three-point play by Dawkins with less than two minutes to go. A free throw by
Fard Muhammad gave the Golden Eagles a 70-68 lead before San Francisco State's Chiefy Ugbaja tied it with a layup with nine seconds to go.
Dawkins was fouled driving to the basket with four seconds left, but he missed the first try and his second free throw was waved off due to a lane violation, sending the game into overtime.
From there, the junior guard took over. He made a steal and a layup for the first points of overtime to give the Golden Eagles a 72-70 lead. After the Gators tied it at 72-72, he scored four straight points to give the Golden Eagles a 76-72 lead with 1:26 to go. Two more free throws put the Golden Eagles ahead 78-74 and he hit a back-breaking 3-pointer to give the Golden Eagles the 81-76 lead and the game.
"This was the longest game I've ever been a part of, but it feels good to win," Dawkins said.
Dawkins finished with a game-high 21 points and scored all 21 of them after halftime. Muhammad finished with 14 points,
Jordan Rogers scored 11 and Means finished with 10.
Cal State LA shot 40 percent for the game (22-of-55) and was 9-of-29 from 3-point range despite going 2-of-14 from behind the arc in the first half. The Golden Eagles were also 28-of-38 from the free-throw line. San Francisco State was 24-of-61 from the floor and 6-of-22 from 3-point range, but the Gators were just 2-of-11 from behind the arc in the second half and overtime.
"This whole year, we've always been finding a way to win," Dawkins said. "This is the toughest group I've ever been a part of so it's fun to be a part of."
Cal State LA advances to the semi-finals where the Golden Eagles will face No. 1 seed Cal Poly Pomona at Pioneer Gym on the campus of Cal State East Bay.
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