A late rally by the Warriors came up just a little shy of taking over the game as Sonoma State held on by making its free throws for a 70-67 decision Saturday night at Fitzpatrick Arena.
The Seawolves made all 14 of their free throw attempts including six in the final 50 seconds just after Cal State Stanislaus rallied to tie the game. Sonoma State edged the Warriors to improve to 5-5 on the season (3-3 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play).
Cal State Stanislaus has lost five straight CCAA games at home and fell to 4-6 overall and 1-5 in league action.
Trailing by as many as 16 points midway through the second half, Cal State Stanislaus staged an exciting comeback by finally hitting some jumpers and with Nick Hodge scoring in the paint.
After a SSU three-pointer at 11:06, the Warriors used a little 14-6 run to cut the deficit down to eight, 58-50, with a Hodge layup. Another 15-6 Warrior run finally gave Stanislaus a one-point, 65-64 lead, with 1:06 to play when Zeke DeBlase made a layup.
However, Patrick Scott made four straight free throws for the Seawolves and Jarbi Jenkins hit two freebies with three seconds left to decide the game.
Marcus Walters finished with a game-best 26 points to follow Friday night's 20-point performance. He also grabbed nine rebounds against SSU. Walters with 11 for 18 on the night with four three-pointers. Hodge finished with 14 points as the duo accounted for 60 percent of the team's scoring.
As a team, the Warriors were 7 for 21 from behind the arch.
Sonoma State finished the game with a 64.1 percentage from the floor after a scorching second half where the Seawolves went 13 for 18 (72.2 percent). They also converted on 13 of 13 foul shots in the second half to stay ahead of the Warriors.
Scott ended up with 17 points and Steve Lackey had 11 for Sonoma State.
Cal State Stanislaus will have to become road Warriors to move up the CCAA ladder. They will play eight of the next 10 conference games on the road over the next five weekends.