Chico State senior Roderick Hawkins averaged 18.5 points and shot 67 percent from the field to lead the Wildcats to a pair of home wins over the weekend and earn Wildcat of the Week recognition. He also averaged 5.5 rebounds per night.
The 6-foot-2 forward from Granite Bay scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and pulled down seven boards in Friday night’s 68-55 win against UC San Diego. Eleven of his points came during a decisive second half in which Chico State outscored the Tritons 36-24.
Saturday, Hawkins scored a dozen of his game-high 19 points after the break as the Wildcats pulled away for a 65-47 win against Cal State East Bay. He hit 5-of-6 shots from the floor, and though he didn’t shoot particulary well from the free throw line (9-of-17) his trips helped get the Pioneers in serious foul trouble. One of their players fouled out and four more finished the game with four fouls. The games marked Hawkins’ second and third highest scoring outputs of the season.
Hawkins got to the free throw line often on the weekend and moved past Rich Nelson (1969-72) into sixth place on the school's career made free throws list. With 258, he's just six shy of moving past Ken Piercy (1952-56) and into fifth. The team's active career leader in scoring (831 points) and rebounds (466) needs to average 12.1 points per game over the final 14 of the regular to season to reach the 1,000-point plateau and needs to grab 45 more rebounds to move into Chico State's all-time top 10 in that category.
The Wildcats head to southern California this weekend for two very important conference matchups. Cal State San Bernardino hosts the ’Cats on Friday, Jan. 14, followed by a trip to Kellogg Gymnasium Saturday the 15th to face Cal Poly Pomona. Tipoff for both games is slated for 7:30 PM.
