STOCKTON, Calif. – Winning its third consecutive game, the Pacific men's basketball program shook-off Sacramento State in the second half for a 68-54 victory Saturday at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
 
The game was tied 32-32 at halftime when Pacific (6-2) opened up a double-figure lead at the 11-minute mark. The Tigers never trailed in the second half, and the Hornets (4-5) led for less than three minutes in the entire game.
 
Pacific continued to clamp down defensively and held its third consecutive opponent to under 60 points for the first time since 2019-20. The Tigers limited Sacramento State to a .306 shooting day from the floor and .217 (5-23) from long range.
 
Paving the way was senior Elias Ralph with a season-high 22 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. He logged all 40 minutes and was 3-of-5 from long range and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
 
A season-high in scoring came from senior Justin Rochelin with 12 points. Senior Isaac Jack registered seven points and a season-high 12 rebounds, while senior Jaden Clayton turned in nine points, nine assists and three steals.
 
Senior TJ Wainright drained a trio of long range shots for nine points. Freshman Jaion Pitt pulled down a career-high seven rebounds. He helped the Tigers outrebound the Hornets 49-32 on the night.
 
A back-and-forth first half saw Sacramento State leading 10-9 at the 13:53 mark until senior Alexis Marmolejos answered with a three. The Tigers created slight separation 23-16 after a dunk by Rochelin with 6:46 to go.
 
The Hornets came back to tie it 30-30 with 1:59 left. A tip-in by Rochelin put the Tigers back up temporarily but Sacramento State scored the last two points of the half to level it 32-32.
 
Tied 34-34 early in the second, a dunk by Jack sparked a 7-0 spurt to give Pacific a 41-34 edge with 15:34 remaining. Still up 48-40, three-pointers by Ralph and Rochelin upped it to 54-30 at the 10:43 mark.
 
The Tigers largest lead of the game was 60-45 after a three by Clayton with 8:50 to go. Pacific's advantage never dipped below 12 points the rest of the way and a driving lay-up by Clayton kept the team in front 64-50 at the 2:26 mark.
 
Next week, the Tigers will play a pair of road games beginning with a 6 p.m. (PT) contest Wednesday at Air Force. They'll conclude the week with a 2 p.m. Saturday game at Cal. The next home game is Saturday, Dec. 13 against Simpson University at 4 p.m.
 
NOTES
- Pacific improved to 32-8 all-time against Sac State and 21-3 at home. The last meeting was a 74-58 home win on Dec. 1, 2016.
 
- With a 6-2 record, Pacific is off to its best start through eight games since 2013-14 when the team began 7-1.
 
- The Tigers are now 812-462 all-time at home, 349-229 in the Alex G. Spanos Center and 3-0 this season.
 
- Pacific is 7-0 under head coach Dave Smart when holding the opposition to under 60 points.
 
- Ralph surpassed his previous season-high of 21 points against Nevada. It was his 22nd career 20-plus scoring performance, 10th at Pacific and third this year. Ralph, who leads the WCC in minutes per game, played 40 minutes for the second straight contest after doing so against Jacksonville in a 14-point, 10-rebound effort.
 
- Clayton entered the night ranked top-five in the league in assists with 5.4 per game and dished out nine. He recorded six of his assists and all nine of his points in the second half.
 
- Rochelin topped his previous season-high of seven points. It was his 10th career double-figure scoring game and first at Pacific.  
 
- Jack's previous season-high in rebounding was nine against Jacksonville. He was one rebound shy of his career-high of 13 set against SUNY Canton on Dec. 21, 2022 as a member of Buffalo. Jack was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and is now 27-of-35 (.771) on the year.
 


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