SAN FRANCISCO – The Cal State Dominguez Hills men's basketball team had its back against the wall in twice but managed to get the tying points near or at the buzzer and it took two extra periods to beat San Francisco State 86-82 at the Swamp Saturday night.
The first rally came when
Jonathan Nichols hit a jumper with five seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 62.
The Toros (4-6, 2-2 CCAA) were down 74-68 with 19 seconds remaining in overtime and got to within two with one second to go. With 0.3 seconds to inbound the ball from the baseline and shoot, that exactly happen as Nichols tossed it to Malcolm Johnson, who sat on the bench for the whole overtime period until that point, and tied the game at 75 on a tip-in at the buzzer.
In addition to back-to-back 3's from Gabriel Hicks, free throws had benefited the Toros in the second overtime period, going 5-for-5.
Johnson ended the night with 20 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Toros in both columns. Mikey Hatfield dropped 13 points, Deshay Gipson and Nichols each had a dozen and Hayes had 11.
The Toros altogether shot 40.6 percent from the field, including a season high 12 3-pointers made.
The Gators (5-3, 2-1 CCAA), who shot 43 percent, were led by Warren Jackson's 25 points.
It is the second consecutive night that neither team had a double-digit lead. The Toros' largest lead was nine halfway through the first half, the Gators biggest lead was six in that overtime period.
After playing five games away from the Torodome, Dominguez Hills returns home Saturday for a non-conference finale against the NAIA's San Diego Christian. Tipoff is at 5 p.m.
