Night One of the PacWest/CCAA Crossover Challenge at Menlo College’s Haynes-Prim Pavilion saw the San Francisco State University men’s basketball team lose their fourth consecutive game to start the 2025-26 season as they fell to the Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds, 87-71.

The Gators’ Achilles’ heel so far this season has been going on long scoring droughts. After jumping out to a 10-4 lead early in the first half, the Sunbirds went on a 12-0 run, spanning about three-and-a-half minutes of game time. That scoring drought flipped the game in Fresno Pacific’s favor, and they led 16-10 just before the halfway mark of the first half.

From that point, the Sunbirds never looked back, expanding their lead to as many as 21 points in the second half. 

“I think we’re just a step slow and we’re not a super athletic team. But we can do better, we just gotta compete better on the ball,” said SFSU head coach Vince Inglima. “On the other side, we need to value and possess the ball a little bit better on offense, so it feels like we’re not playing defense the entire game.”

Inglima credited his team for scoring 71 points, believing that gives any team a good shot to win in any game, but it’s the small battles his team continues to lose that put them on an uphill climb in each contest. He also said that giving up at least 80 points won’t help their efforts to come out on top. 

Sophomore guard Fed Pernell led the way again for the Gators with 19 points, the same number of field goal attempts he had in the game.

“Today’s game plan was a bit specific for him, which we were intending on him getting a little bit more of the action,” Inglima said.

San Francisco State University guard Fed Pernell looks to drive against Fresno Pacific University guard Gabriel Quiette at Haynes-Prim Pavilion on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (Daniel Archuleta / Golden Gate Xpress)

Pernell also had five assists with just one turnover.

Another bright spot for the Gators was the performance of junior guard Maximilian Parmigiani, who made his Gator debut, scoring 10 points in 15 minutes off the bench. 

“It felt great to be on the court and to play with the guys that I’ve been grinding with this whole season so far,” Parmigiani said. “[I was] just a little rusty, being out for [the start of the season], but I felt great, I felt comfortable out there.”

Parmigiani was nursing an Achilles strain to start the season, but in his return, his shooting and playmaking ability will be key for the Gators. 

As for Fresno Pacific, they picked up their first win of the season. Junior guard Amar Hot, one of five Sunbirds to score at least 10 points, was excited to see his team in the win column.  

“It’s a great feeling; we stayed in it the whole time, we trusted our game plan,” Hot said. “And to have it result in a win, which is not easy, feels great.”

Gators junior forward Bricen Buciak, who finished with 9 points, continues to speak optimistically about the team and the direction things are trending.

“We’re just still figuring out how to play together and use each other’s strengths to ultimately get wins,” Buciak said. “We’re [taking] steps in the right direction, but it’s not always gonna be a straight linear improvement.”

After just four games, the Gators remain the only winless team in the CCAA conference.  They will continue to chase that winning feeling for a second night in the PacWest/CCAA Crossover as they face the hosts, Menlo College Oaks, at 7 p.m. on Saturday.