Had the Chico State men’s basketball team’s heart and soul not been playing his former team, the expected hangover from Friday night’s emotionally and physically draining overtime loss to Humboldt State may have been too much to overcome. Sonoma State was coming to town, though, for a game Jay Flores has presumably had circled on his calendar since the schedule was released. And if it’s circled on Flores’ calendar, it’s circled on his everyone else’s in cardinal and white.
As a result, the Wildcats jumped out to a quick lead, and behind the spirited play of Flores, held on for a 69-65 win. Flores scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half and also distributed seven assists as the Wildcats improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Damario Sims added 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Terence Pellum and Roderick Hawkins pitched in 10 points apiece.
The Wildcats also got a good lift off the bench from Jason Conrad, who pulled down a season-high eight rebounds in 18 minutes, and Josh Jackson, who played his strongest game of the season, particularly on the defensive end.
Steve Pratt led Sonoma State with 15 points and six assists. He scored six points on a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute as the Seawolves closed a 10-point gap to 66-63. But Flores sank a pair of free throws and Sims snagged a steal to close the door.
The Seawolves, who dropped to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the CCAA, also got 12 points apiece from James Sandoval and Ben Washington.
Flores spent the 2007-08 season at Sonoma State as a freshman but decided to transfer to Chico State soon after Greg Clink took the Wildcats’ head coaching job. He had two cracks at his former team last season after sitting one season due to inter-conference transfer rules, but the Wildcats came up short each time.
Not Saturday.
Flores’ first 3-pointer of the game gave the Wildcats an 11-8 lead they would not surrender for nearly 18 minutes. The Seawolves surged ahead 38-37 on Matthew French’s layup with 15:01 to play. But they only led for 19 seconds before Flores took a pass from Sims and scored inside, and then buried a 3-pointer to cap a Sims steal and Conrad assist that gave Chico State the lead for keeps.
Sonoma State cut the lead to one with 13:19 left. Flores answered with a twisting layup. The Seawolves cut the lead to two with 11:24 remaining. Flores flushed a 3-pointer.
A Sims 3-pointer and layup sparked a 10-1 run, capped by a Flores-to-Pellum inside bucket connection, that opened the lead to 61-51, the largest of the night, with 1:36 to play.
Sandoval scored inside to make it 61-53, but Flores found the net on a pair of free throws to keep the Seawolves at bay.
Pratt gave Sonoma State some hope with a pair of long 3-pointers sandwiched around a Ben Washington jumper. In a span of 25 seconds the 10 point lead was down to three. But Flores was fouled and sank both charities to salt the game away.
The ability of Chico State to bounce back from Friday night’s physically and emotionally draining game seemed especially impressive when news of Saturday night’s Humboldt State score reached the floor. The Lumberjacks apparently failed to find the same drive as they did Friday and fell 73-58 at Cal State Stanislaus.
That result, combined with 15th-ranked Dominguez Hills’ loss to Cal State San Bernardino, top-ranked Cal Poly Pomona’s second loss in two nights, and Cal State Monterey Bay’s second straight win, has created a four-team logjam for second place in the conference that includes Chico State. San Francisco State is suddenly the lone remaining unbeaten team.
Chico State will now begin preparations for its final conference contest before Dec. 30. Cal State Stanislaus (2-3, 1-2 CCAA), which Chico State came from behind to beat 64-59 in the season and conference opener for both teams back on Nov. 18, comes to town Wednesday for a 7 PM tipoff.
Sonoma State will be on the road at Humboldt State (5-1, 1-1 CCAA) next Saturday night.
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