HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team got off to a slow start Thursday evening, leading to a home loss at Pioneer Gym to San Francisco State, 88-65.

CSUEB (9-8, 5-6 CCAA) struggled early on and fell behind 19-3 with 14:26 remaining in the first half. It was an up-hill climb from that point on.

The Pioneers rallied to close the first half and trailed by just nine at halftime, 40-31. A bucket inside by junior forward Zafir Williams to start the second half cut the deficit to seven, but an 8-0 run by SF State (7-10, 4-7) made it 56-39 with 14:35 left to play.

Junior guard Nai Carlisle finished with a team-high 15 points, senior Evan Wardlow added 14 points with five rebounds and senior forward Ant Navarrete had eight points and four rebounds.

Cal State East Bay entered the night ranked fourth in the conference in field goal percentage defense (.427) and third in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.320). 

However, SF State shot .475 from the field and .457 from 3-point range on Thursday night. In addition, the Gators' 88 points scored by far eclipses the Pioneers' average of 68.4 points per game allowed.

CSUEB returns to action at home on Saturday, Jan. 18, as it continues CCAA play against Sonoma State on Youth Day beginning at 3 p.m.