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There's nothing like second chances to make sure that you're taking advantage of your second chance. Confused yet? Just ask a member of the Chico State men's basketball team to explain. The Wildcats turned 21 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points to key a 73-68 win against visiting Cal State Monterey Bay Saturday night at Acker Gym. In the process, the Wildcats finished what started out as a woeful weekend with a wave of confidence heading into the second half of California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play.
Sean Park led the Wildcats with 18 points. Roderick Hawkins finished with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Jay Flores added 14 points and Damario Sims 11 as the Wildcats improved to 10-6 overall and 6-6 in the CCAA. Jason Conrad ripped down seven offensive boards and eight overall in just nine minutes of action and the Wildcats outrebounded Cal State Monterey Bay 52-41. That helped ease the burden of Friday night's loss to San Francisco State in which the Wildcats played arguably their worst game of the season in arguably their biggest game of the year thus far.
CCAA leading scorer Davion Berry paced the Otters with 21 points, but a combination of Josh Jackson, Damario Sims and an effective zone defense held him to 7-of-23 shooting, including 0-for-6 from downtown. Brandon Ward finished with 20 points, but no other Otters reached double figures as they fell to 5-11 overall and 3-9 in the CCAA with their ninth loss in the last 10 games.
Flores found the range on consecutive 3-pointers for a 7-2 lead in the early going, but the Otters responded with a 23-9 run that gave them the biggest lead of the game at 25-16. Ironically, that's just where the Wildcats wanted them. For the fifth straight game in this series, the team that boasted the night's largest lead would go on to lose.
The Wildcats started their push by scoring eight of the final 10 points of the first half. Josh Jackson gave the Wildcats a boost off the bench with a 3-pointer and Roderick Hawkins made it a 32-32 tie at intermission with a pair of free throws.
The lead changed hands 10 times in the first 14 minutes of the second half. A pair of Berry free throws gave the Otters a 58-57 lead with 6:16 to play. But Flores found Hawkins for a jumper on which he was fouled for a three-point play and the Wildcats never again trailed. Barry hit buckets to tie it up twice more, the second time at 62-apiece with 3:33 left. But he and Will Freedman missed opportunities to tie it again after Park netted a pair of free throws and then Sims snared an offensive rebound and slid a short jumper home off the glass to stretch Chico State's lead to 66-62 with 2:42 left.
Jackson beat it back down court for a steal and then set up the night's biggest thrill when he found Sims for a 3-pointer with 1:11 left that salted the game away. It was a courageous shot for the sophomore, who had missed 18 of his last 19 from distance before stepping into the shot.
The Wildcats now sit alone in seventh place in the CCAA a half game behind Cal Poly Pomona. But only
two games separate four teams in the race for fourth place in the CCAA standings and the opportunity to host a CCAA Championship Tournament first-round game that goes with a top-four finish.
One of those teams, Cal State L.A., will visit Acker Gym next Saturday night. But first, 5th-ranked and first-place Cal State Dominguez Hills comes to town Friday night.
GAME NOTES – Chico State's 52 rebounds are the most since they secured 55 in a 102-64 win against Bethany back on Dec. 10, 2002…Hawkins has now amassed 498 career rebounds and is close to becoming just the 11th player in Chico State history to reach 500…Hawkins is also closing in on 1,000 career points, needing to average 10.4 per game over the last 10 to do so by the end of the regular season. If he reaches both milestones, he'll join Aaron Martella (1990-94) and Jim Schreiner (1974-78) as the only players in Chico State history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds….Terence Pellum's pair of blocked shots give him 50 for his career and moved him past Jason Van Eck into sixth on the school's career list…Flores flew past Tony Prescott into sole possession of 10th on Chico State's career assists list. He had three Saturday to bring his career total to 205, eight shy of Frank Lopez…The Wildcats' nine home wins are the most since the 2004-05 team won 11…Fifteen of Greg Clink's 32 wins have come in games in which the Wildcats trailed in the second half…The Wildcats are now 10-0 this season when leading or tied with five minutes to play (they were tied Saturday), 9-0 when allowins fewer than 70 points, 7-0 when outrebounding their opponent, and 8-1 when limiting their opponent to less than 45-percent shooting.
BOX SCORE
