SEASIDE – My wonderful wife wishes I were as productive as Damario Sims. I would be in bed with her already keeping her warm on this cold and rainy night. In just 16 minutes of action, Sims played what Chico State Men’s Basketball Coach Greg Clink called one of the best defensive games of his career, limiting California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) leading scorer Davion Barry to just two field goals in four shots and forcing him into a pair of turnovers in those 16 minutes, as the Wildcats held off a late charge to defeat Cal State Monterey Bay 68-66 Thursday night at the Kelp Bed.
Freshman Sean Park scored 21 points and Jay Flores and Roderick Hawkins had 13 apiece as the Wildcats wrapped up their second straight plus-.500 season, stayed alive for the No. 6 seed in the upcoming CCAA Championship Tournament, and knocked the Otters out of postseason consideration. They improved 14-11 overall and moved into a tie for sixth place in the conference standings with Cal State L.A. at 10-11.
The Wildcats can wrap up their second straight sixth-place finish in the conference standings with a win at San Francisco State in Friday’s regular-season finale. A Chico State win and a Cal State L.A. loss at Humboldt State would give the Wildcats the No. 6 seed in the CCAA Championship Tournament. If they are the No. 6 seed they’ll play at Cal State San Bernardino Tuesday. If they lose or Cal State L.A. wins Friday, they’ll be the No. 7 seed and travel to Cal State Dominguez Hills, the site of their first-round upset victory last season.
Berry entered the evening ranked first in the CCAA and third in the nation in scoring at 24 points per game. He almost hit that number Thursday with 23, but that was his lowest scoring output in the last eight games. He had averaged 31.3 in the seven games leading up to Thursday’s showdown. Clink credited Sims and the rest of the Wildcat defenders with limiting Berry to just 12 shots all night.
He was 1-for-4 in the first half as the Wildcats built a 41-30 lead. Chico State’s starting five shot a sizzling 67 percent overall (14-of-21), including 63 percent from beyond the arc (5-of-8).
The lead grew to 14 when Flores flushed a 3-pointer coming out of the half, 14 again when Park drilled a jumper a minute later, and pushed to 14 one last time when Park made a pair of free throws with 17:47 left to play. But Warren Freedman sparked a 12-3 Monterey Bay run with eight quick points to trim the lead to five.
The Wildcats kept the Otters at bay for a while, even stretching the lead back out to 10 on Zach Graves’ layup with 7:02 to play. Graves contributed one of his better games of the season with seven points, three steals. He and Josh Jackson also helped out on Berry while Sims struggled with foul trouble.
Three turnovers and a pair of missed shots followed Graves’ hoop, however, and Monterey Bay went on a 9-0 binge and trailed just 61-60 with 1:53 remaining.
Berry actually had the ball with a chance to give the Otters the lead, but Flores picked him clean. Hawkins hit one-of-two free throws on the possession. Sims’ smothering defense then forced Berry into a bad shot before Sims snared the rebound.
Flores followed with two free throws, but then Berry did the same after drawing a foul on Sims, fouling him out of the game. Flores was quickly sent back on the line and again made both freebies with 19 seconds left, giving the Wildcats a 66-62 edge.
Berry settled for a layup 11 seconds later after the Chico State defense denied the 3-point shot, and this time Park was fouled and sent to the line. He made just 1-of-2, giving the Otters an outside shot, but Jeremiah Campbell’s 3-pointer was well off the mark and by the time Berry put it up and in only one tick remained on the clock. Park made 1-of-2 free throws with two-tenths of a second left and Terence Pellum tipped away a full-court pass as time expired.
Pellum, the CCAA’s leading shot blocker entering the week, finished with a pair rejections, six points, four rebounds, and two assists. Hawkins grabbed eight rebounds to go along with his 13 points. He moved into eighth on the school’s career rebounding list by raising his total to 542 and now stands just three points shy of becoming the 11th Wildcats with 1,000 career points and the third with 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.
Flores grabbed a steal to move into a tie for 10th on the school’s career steals list and is now only three 3-pointers shy of becoming the 11th Chico State player with 100 in a career.
Chico State’s game against San Francisco State Friday night will tip off at approximately 7:30, though it could be delayed a bit by the Gators’ Senior Night ceremonies.
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