TURLOCK — The Stanislaus State men's basketball team had seen this story before.
 
Stan State trailed Thursday's game against Cal State East Bay by one point with just seconds left, only two weekends removed from back-to-back two-point losses that were missing that game-winning bucket.
 
But Thursday night, in front of a raucous Homecoming crowd… it went in.
 
Marlon Short drained a go-ahead 3-pointer from the left wing with 18.7 seconds on the clock, sending the crowd into a frenzy and the Warriors to their second consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Association win, downing the Pioneers, 68-66, at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena.
 
Short may have been the easy pick for hero, but Short's game-winner wouldn't even have happened had Travion Williams not strung together heroic moment after heroic moment in the game's final 90 seconds. Two blocks and a key offensive rebound helped lift Stanislaus State (9-13, 6-11 CCAA) to victory.
 
The Warriors collected 13 offensive rebounds Thursday, none more important than the offensive board Williams grabbed on Stan State's final possession. Stan State had two attempts at the game winner, the second opportunity created by Williams' offensive rebound off the first miss. Williams corralled the ball and swung it back around, where it ended up in Benno Zecic's hand. He drove to the paint, drew the defense on him, then dished to Short for the eventual game-winner and his eighth assist of the game.
 
Down on the other end and with only seven seconds left, Williams blocked Josh Dhatt's go-ahead 3-pointer attempt, pulled his own rebound and drew a foul to go to the line. Earlier, with 1:31 to go and the game tied at 65-65, Williams blocked CSUEB leading scorer DJ Sanders' driving layup attempt to keep it tied.
 
The Warriors had three players finish in double figures, led by Short's 14 points. Tony Singleton scored 12 and Matt Bender added 11, both off the bench. Williams finished with 11 rebounds, four on the offensive end, to go with his seven points and two blocks. Zecic had five steals, four points and three rebounds to go with his eight helpers.
 
Cal State East Bay was led by 16 points from Sanders and three others in double figures. It may have allowed four double-digit scorers, but the Stanislaus State defense did what it needed to do. The Warriors held Zach Perlstein, who came in averaging 10.0 points per game, to only two. Josh Dhatt – a 40.2% shooter coming in – was held to 1-for-6 shooting (16.7%). Justin Vigil, an impressive 40.6% shooter from 3-point range this season, went 3 for 11 (27.3%) and didn't make any after sinking his first three in the game's first four minutes. He went 0 for 8 over the remaining 36 minutes, including 0 for 5 in the second half and missing the Pioneers' final attempt from 30 feet away as the buzzer sounded.
 
Stanislaus State next hosts Cal State Dominguez Hills on Senior Night Saturday. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on WarriorAthletics.com.