Jordan Semple starts most games on the bench. He usually doesn’t stay there for long. The Wildcat of the Week proved why this weekend, earning Carl’s Jr. Mac Martin Invitational All-Tournament Team honors with a pair of powerful performances.
Semple actually accounted for the most minutes on the team in the Wildcats’ 86-56 win against Dominican University of California Friday night. He then totaled 23 minutes (including all but six in the second half) in the Wildcats’ 73-70 win against 9th-ranked Seattle Pacific.
The junior from Arcata averaged 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, two blocks and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 60 percent from the field (9-of-15), 50 percent from 3-point range (2-of-4) and 70 percent from the free throw line (7-of-10).
Despite starting just seven times in his 68-game career, the sixth-man extraordinaire is already fourth in Chico State history with 66 blocked shots and on pace to become just the program’s 12th player to record 500 career rebounds later on this season. Semple currently has 426 rebounds and he’s averaging a team-best 7.2 per game this season.
Semple enters this weekend’s games at San Francisco State Friday and Sonoma State Saturday averaging 9.6 points (on 61-percent shooting) per game and leads the Wildcats with 12 assists and seven blocked shots despite coming off the bench in each game.
Of course, he also ranks third on the team in minutes.
