In many ways, Michael Bethea, Jr. was the unlikeliest Wildcat to lead the Chico State men's basketball to victory in its biggest game of the year Saturday night. The Wildcat of the Week did it anyway.
A senior transfer from Staten Island, New York, via Grambling State, Bethea is the only player from outside of California on the team. And everyone else has literally been working to perfect Head Coach Greg Clink's system for years. Nine of the 11 players on this season's active roster are past the midway point of their third season in the program, and many are in their fourth or fifth. The others are Justin Briggs and Bethea. Briggs spent last season as a redshirt, practicing with the team every day.
Bethea has had to do his best to accomplish in a few months what the rest of the team's players have been working on for years.
It appears he is a quick learner. Bethea played 14 productive minutes in Friday night's 87–70 win over Cal State San Bernardino, totaling five points, three assists, a steal, and a rebound.
He followed that up with his best game of the season in Saturday's 69–54 victory over UC San Diego that lifted the Wildcats into sole possession of first place atop the conference standings.
Bethea kept the Wildcats in the game in the first half, and then sparked their comeback from 13 points down in the second, providing energy and efficiency on both ends of the floor. He finished the game with 14 points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal.
The Wildcats trailed by 12 with 14 minutes remaining when Bethea entered the game in the second half. He hit a 3-pointer one possession later, grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast for a pull-up triple that trimmed the lead to 52–46 with 10:45 remaining, and then gave the Wildcats their first lead since the first basket of the game with a deep three with 6:46 to play.
