CARSON -- Cal State Dominguez Hills junior Jalen Brown dropped a game-high 27 points to lead the Toros back from a four-point halftime deficit to a decisive victory over visiting San Francisco State, 80-71, in front of a vocal Torodome crowd that included former head coach Dave Yanai, after whom the Torodome court is named.

Yanai and other notable alums were in attendance as the Toros unveiled the 2024-25 National runner-up banner in a pregame ceremony.

The visitors, who fell to 1-9 overall and 0-4 in CCAA action, took a quick 5-0 lead to begin the contest, and pushed their edge to as much as 13 at 25-12 nearly halfway through the first half of play.

Behind a David Cheatom tip-in, a Dasean Stevens jumper and three-consecutive points from Brown, the Toros trimmed their deficit to just 27-21 four minutes later before SFSU answered by increasing its lead back to 37-26 at the 3:49 mark.

CSUDH had one more run in it before the half closed, using five-straight points by Stevens to head into the locker room down by four at 40-36.

The Toros continued that momentum after the half, using an old-fashioned 3-point play by Brown to bring them within one, finally taking a 43-42 lead on a pair of free throws by Cheatom at the 17:40 mark.

The hosts then found their rhythm, outscoring SFSU 18-6 for a 60-48 lead with 11:27 left in regulation, increasing it to 66-50 on a Brown bucket in the paint three minutes later.

CSUDH's lead grew to as much as 73-53 on a Brown jumper, until the Gators scored 10-straight to put pressure back on the Cardinal and Gold.

SFSU whittled its deficit to 78-71 with 43 ticks left in regulation, but a Cheatom flush 10 seconds later put a cap on the win, much to the content of the Torodome crowd.

Stevens chipped in 14 points, Za-Ontay Boothman 13 and Cheatom 10 for the Toros as they converted on 22 fast-break points after gaining a 13 to 6 advantage in steals.

The Toros travel to Cal Poly Humboldt to kick off the 2026 calendar year, facing the 'Jacks on January 2, at 7:30 pm.