As the Chico State men’s basketball team warms up prior to its game at Cal State East Bay Thursday night, you’ll have to forgive some of the Wildcats if they let their minds wander. They’ll certainly be tempted to daydream about what it would be like to be back there three weeks later when Pioneer Gym plays host to the 2011 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament semifinals and finals March 3-4.
But first the Wildcats need to secure their place in the eight-team tournament. They currently sit in seventh in the CCAA standings at 7-9. They could feasibly move within sniffing distance of fourth with a pair of wins this weekend. They face the Pioneers Thursday at 7 PM before flying south to face UC San Diego Saturday at 7:30. Cal State L.A. is a game ahead of the ’Cats and Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino are tied for fourth two-and-a-half games clear of Chico State.
On the flip side, with a three-team jam in eighth place just a game behind the Wildcats and UC San Diego lurking only two games behind them, a loss or two could put them in danger of missing the tournament all together.
A familiar refrain is once again echoing out of the coaches’ offices and down the Acker Gym hallway this week: “Big weekend,” says one person. “They’re all big,” says another.
Chico State, 11-9 overall, swept the weekend when UC San Diego and Cal State East Bay came to Acker Gym on Jan. 7-8. They beat Cal State East Bay 65-47 behind Jay Flores’ 16 points and his clamp-down defense on then-CCAA leading scorer Mark Samuels, who he helped to limit to three points and no field goals. That came one night after they rallied from an early second-half deficit to beat UC San Diego 68-55 as Roderick Hawkins scored 11 of his game-high 18 points after intermission.
The Wildcats are 3-0 against Cal State East Bay since it entered the CCAA last season, having limited the Pioneers to an average of 59 points per outing. They lead the all-time series 41-31. Cal State East Bay was known as Cal State Hayward when the schools were long-time rivals in the now defunct Northern California Athletic Conference.
The Pioneers, just 3-17 overall and 1-15 in the CCAA, have recently been playing their best basketball of the season. They blew out Sonoma State two weekends ago and have lost tight games against some of the conference’s best teams – Humboldt State, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State L.A. and San Francisco State – over the last four weeks.
UC San Diego is 10-12 overall and 5-11 in the CCAA. But the Tritons have proved to be dangerous at home with wins in La Jolla against two teams ahead of Chico State in the CCAA standings – San Francisco State and Cal State L.A.
The Wildcats, who lead the all-time series 13-10, have won four in a row against the Tritons. But the home team will be riding the emotional wave of senior night in an attempt to give its lone senior a win in its final home game. If they do, that lone senior, Casey Ryan, will likely have a lot to do with it. He’s averaged 15 points and 16 rebounds in the Tritons’ five CCAA wins this season.
Chico State has its own motivated big man, however, in Hawkins. The fourth-year player is now only 55 points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career. Having already eclipsed 500 career rebounds earlier this season, Hawkins has a chance to become just the third player in Chico State history to compile 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career. Jim Schreiner (1974-78) and Aaron Martella (1990-94) are the other two. If Hawkins stays hot he’ll join them. He’s averaging 15.1 points and 6.9 rebounds over his last 10 games.
WEEKEND GAME NOTES
