On Thursday, November 29, 2018, the Stan State Men’s Basketball team faced the Sonoma State Seawolves in their season’s home opener. While the game was a close battle that went into overtime, the Warriors fell short, losing 76-72. The team’s record now sits at 3-3.
Andy Cleaves (senior, Business Administration) was the leader in points for his team. “Being a leader on this team is a responsibility I have taken on and am very proud to be. There is no possible way for me to lead this team without the support from the coaching staff along with the full trust from my teammates.”
Despite having a strong night in points, Cleaves knows that it takes a team effort to win the game. “We came out from the jump really slow, flat-footed on defense and very stagnant on offense. We did not move the ball at all on offense until the end of the first half. On the positive side, once the second half started we came out with a sense of urgency and continued to move the ball which brought us back into the game.”
Tensions ran high toward the end of the game, and that became evident to fans in the crowd.
Cleaves identified one of the contributing issues. “As a team we thought that one of our players had been fouled on an open layup and the referee missed the call. We have a lot of players including coaches who are passionate about the game so when a bad call is made or not made, we get fired up.” He continues on to say, “There will be referees who will give you the calls you want and then on the other hand there will be times where you won’t get the call as well.” 
Warrior Rewind reporter, Adam Grabarek saw the tensions from a different perspective than Cleaves as he was in the crowd with other Warrior fans. “There was not only frustration from the Warriors’ bench, [but] the fans were also frustrated because they feel like they are with the players through everything that happened in the game…I think the stress and frustration from everything that happened in that game lead to tensions being high on the side line during the game.”
Another fan, James Green (sophomore, Biology) said, “Tempers erupted from the crowd and the bench was almost worthy of a Technical. The energy lasted until the teams made it to the locker rooms.” 
Despite facing a loss, Warrior fans are still excited that the basketball season is back. Stands were fuller during the men’s game than during that of the women’s, and energy levels of the crowd were higher than they had been in the previous game. 
Green is excited for the rest of the Men’s basketball season and to see it carry out. “It was a tough loss. When a game is that close the pressure is insane for both teams and when you invest so much in something and only get that close you get angry at anything that might’ve held you back. I have high expectations for the next Warriors game!” 
Joseph Alvarez (junior, Psychology) is also looking forward to the upcoming games and the rest of the season. “We’re a team that’s still learning how to play with one another, so there’s bound to be some growing pains. The CCAA is a tough, and unforgiving conference where any team can win on any given night. This season will definitely be a grind, but I trust and believe in the guys. We need to pull through and persevere.”
Looking forward, the team has a lot of preparation they are doing for Saturday night’s game against Cal Poly Pomona. “In preparing for this next game, we as a team went into the film room and re-watched our game against Sonoma. We went over every bad defensive possession along with every turnover and bad offensive play as well. We mainly focused on our defense because getting scored on is what we need to limit along with straight-line drives, giving up offensive boards and slowing teams down in transition.” said Cleaves.
If you want to come to a game and contribute to the energy in the Fitzpatrick Arena, then go to the Warrior Athletics website to see the schedule.