Chico State Athletics

Sean Park joked to his teammates that he had fresh legs going into Saturday night's showdown at Sonoma State. His performance was no joke. Park poured in a career-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting to help lead the Wildcats to a 79-68 victory over their long-time rivals.

This week's Wildcat of the Week played only 12 minutes the night before at San Francisco State due to foul trouble but could laugh about it after thanks to the Wildcats' 67-50 win. Saturday night he scored 12 points in the first half and added a dozen more in the first seven-plus minutes of the second stanza as the Wildcats built an 11-point lead and never looked back.

Park sliced the Seawolves' defense with drives to the bucket and showcased his diverse offensive skillset by knocking down 4-of-7 threes and distributing three assists without committing a turnover in 34 minutes. The senior also grabbed five rebounds, and on the defensive end, swiped two steals.

Park (who finished with five points, one rebound and one assist Friday) currently leads the 6-1 Wildcats in scoring at 15 points per game and ranks second on the team in rebounding and steals.

With 919 career points he is creeping toward becoming just the 13th Chico State player to reach 1,000 and the first since former teammate Roderick Hawkins in 2011.

That pursuit continues Saturday at 7 p.m. when the Wildcats host the only team that's beaten them so far this season – Cal State Stanislaus.