Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Amir Carraway is capping his senior season in sensational fashion and was named the West Regional MVP after sinking two free throws with 1.9 seconds left to springboard the Chico State men’s basketball team into the Elite Eight for the first time Monday night.
Carraway, this week's Wildcat of the Week, averaged 17 points on 18-of-31 shooting as the Wildcats won three in a row at Cal State San Bernarindo.
The senior from Vallejo finished with 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in Chico State’s come-from-behind 77-71 win against California Baptist in the opening round. He hit 5-of-9 shots and hit a pair of clutch free throws to seal the win.
Carraway helped the Wildcats climb higher than they ever have with their second-round win. He shot a sizzling 82 percent (9-for-11) on the way to 21 points in a 94-77 smackdown of host Cal State San Bernardino. Carraway, who only played 22 minutes, also contributed five rebounds.
Carraway then capped a 16-point, three-assist effort with four of the biggest free throws of his life in NCAA Tournament West Region Championship Game Monday as the Wildcats erased a 13-point deficit in the final 2:34 to beat Cal State Stanislaus 81-80. He scored seven of the Wildcats’ 20 points over that span and added an assist. Carraway helped cut the lead to one with a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left and then sank two more with 1.9 seconds left to complete the comeback.
