The offense sputtered at times, but the defense was suffocating the whole time. As a result, the Chico State men’s basketball team opened the home half of its 2010-11 schedule with a 63-44 victory against Bethany University Monday night in Acker Gym.
The Wildcats improved to 2-0 while limiting Bethany (0-8) to a season-low point total. Chico State scored 20 points on 17 forced turnovers and limited Bethany to seven made field goals in each half and 33-percent shooting for the game. The 44 points allowed are the second fewest by a Greg Clink-coached Wildcats team and the third fewest since 1998. The held Pacific Union to 34 points in 2008 and UC San Diego to 42 points last season.
During those times that the Wildcats’ offense wasn’t sputtering, Jay Flores was flourishing. The junior point
guard established a career high with five 3-pointers on the way to 19 points, just two off his career best. He also matched a career high with eight rebounds to go along with his three steals and three assists against no turnovers.
Roderick Hawkins finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Sean Park filled the stat sheet with 12 points six rebounds, three assists and a steal in 22 minutes off the bench. Chris Sharp also gave the Wildcats a spark off the bench with seven points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. And Jason Conrad pulled down eight rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
Marqus Crawford paced Bethany with 16 points, 10 of which came at the free throw line.
The Wildcats didn’t make their first field goal until 6:05 had elapsed and were just 3-of-17 shooting and trailing 12-11 when the offense finally snapped out of its first funk. Park’s 3-pointer gave the Wildcats the lead for good. His steal then led to a Hawkins dunk in transition. A Flores jumper and Park layup made it 20-12.
Sharp shook free for a layup and 3-pointer on the Wildcats’ final two possessions of the half and they went to the locker room leading 29-20.
They came out of the locker room determined to build on that lead. They did, scoring on nine of their first 11 possessions of the second half to widen the gap to 50-26. Seven of their eight buckets during that stretch were assisted on and five different Wildcats got in on the passing game. Three of those conversions were Flores 3-pointers.
They went into another cold spell after that, failing to score a field goal for nearly nine minutes. But Bethany never drew closer than 14 points.
The Wildcats open the 2010 Carl’s Jr. Mac Martin Invitational Friday night at 7:30 against Northwest Christian. Humboldt State and Dominican will face off in a 5:30 game to kick off the festivities. Saturday, Humboldt State plays Northwest Christian at 5:30 and Chico State hosts Dominican at 7:30.
BOX SCORE
NO POINTS FOR YOU!
LOWEST OPPOSING SCORES SINCE 1970
| Opponent |
Date |
Points |
| Pacific Union |
12/11/08 |
34 |
| Simpson |
11/13/88 |
39 |
| Humboldt State |
1975-76 season |
41 |
| UC San Diego |
2/13/10 |
42 |
| Notre Dame de Namur |
1983-84 season |
42 |
| Multnomah Bible |
12/21/82 |
43 |
| Humboldt State |
1974-75 season |
43 |
| Bethany University |
11/22/10 |
44 |
| Six teams |
Last 2/2/91 |
45 |
