ROHNERT PARK, Calif.-Despite digging out of an early hole, the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (2-4 overall) fell 71-67 to the San Francisco State Gators (4-2 overall) closing their non-conference schedule and the Seawolves Thanksgiving Classic Sunday afternoon at the Wolves' Den.

Slow starts to both half's forced Fresno Pacific into scramble mode. And while the Sunbirds knocked down enough shots from the outside in the first half to take the lead, they couldn't duplicate the formula in the game's closing minutes.

"It was just another inconsistent performance from us," Fresno Pacific head coach C.J. Haydock said of the loss. "In defeat, there are some positive growth points for us. We had a really good performance in our half court defense and some moments of really good execution on offense, but turnovers did us in again."

A handful of turnovers found Fresno Pacific in a 10-0 deficit before Marten Maide knocked down a corner three.

The Sunbirds responded over the next six minutes as Michael Mensah hit a pair of threes as apart of a 13-6 run to pull FPU within 3.

Down 16-13 at the media timeout with 10:43 remaining in the half, would tie it up behind layups from Darrin Person Jr., Isaac Peralta, and Nate Kendricks.

Maide and Kyle Monk knocked down three-pointers late in the period to give FPU its first lead of the game at 25-22 before D.J. Searcy's driving layup forced SF State to take a timeout.

The Sunbirds took a 31-30 lead into halftime, but the Gators started quickly again in the second half.

Person Jr. found success around the rim again with a trio of buckets to pull FPU within 3 at 39-36.

Fresno Pacific continued to find success at the rim with Kendricks and Peralta, but SF State was able to push its lead to 50-44.

The deficit hovered around six before FPU's defense tightened and created a pair of transition opportunities that the Sunbirds converted.

SF State preserved the lead with a pair of layups but Monk and Kendricks each connected on threes to tie the game at 63 with 3:43 remaining.

After the Gators went ahead at the free-throw line, Spencer Heimerdinger tied the game at 65 with a lethal one-hand turnaround off the glass.

SF State regained the lead on a layup and added a couple of free-throws to extend their advantage to four.

Kendricks hit a pair of free-throws to bring the score down to 69-67. But SF State put the game out of reach with two more of their own with 3.7 second left.

Fresno Pacific could not overcome the second half deficit, in part, due to 8 second half turnovers that created 12 points for SF State.

SF State was also 19-21 at the free-throw line in the second half as they sealed the game.

Person Jr. led the way for FPU with 17 points while Kendricks added 16. FPU shot 48% from the field for the game while keeping the Gators to just 38% for the game.

"We've got a lot of basketball in front of us," Haydock added. "There's a need to urgently plug the holes that we know exist. Some of those, we've had good success and growth in the last few weeks. Others we've got to get fixed as we dive into the rigors of PacWest play."

Fresno Pacific will return home to the Special Events Center and open PacWest play with home games against Biola on Thursday and Azusa Pacific on Saturday.