LOS ANGELES – With a shot at sole possession of first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) on the line, the Chico State men’s basketball team simply missed too many shots to get there in a 66-60 loss at Cal State L.A. Friday night. The Wildcats shot 21 percent from 3-point range and a tick under 30 percent from the field.
The Wildcats shot just 4-of-27 during a first half in which KPAY play-by-play man Mike Wessels exclaimed that “getting the ball inside to score was like walking uphill in a snowdrift.” Cal State L.A., which boasts the ninth-ranked scoring defense in the nation, was at the top of its game, desperately needing a win having fallen all the way from first to sixth in the conference standings over the past few weeks.
Chico State dipped to 19-6 overall and 13-6 in the CCAA. The Wildcats are now back in a tie for first with Humboldt State and Cal Poly Pomona, which both lost on Thursday night. That trio is a game ahead of red-hot Sonoma State and ice-cold Cal State San Bernardino and two games clear of Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills.
The Golden Eagles (15-8, 11-8 CCAA) led 25-14 at the half, but Chico State heated up for a bit in the second stanza, getting a three-point play from Jason Conrad and six points from Jordan Semple during an 11-4 run that trimmed the lead to 33-31. In fact, the Wildcats scored nearly half of their points (26) during the first 10 minutes of the second half and trailed just 42-40 midway through.
But Cal State L.A. scored the next six points, and after Amir Carraway tried to keep the Wildcats close with a pair of free throws and then a 3-pointer, scored nine straight to take a 61-47 lead with 1:16 to play.
The Wildcats scored 13 points over the final 1:07, but the Golden Eagles made enough of their free throws (5) to salt the game away.
The freshman Semple paced Chico State with 13 points and nine rebounds. He also grabbed a pair of steals and blocked a shot. Carraway finished with 11 points and seven boards. And Damario Sims finished with 10 points.
Ryan Wetherell led the Golden Eagles with a game-high 19 points and Leland Jones chipped in 11. But it was Jordan Richard who was the star of the game, blocking seven shots and finishing with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and seven rebounds.
Chico State will play its final regular-season road game Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills before returning home to take on Cal State Monterey Bay (Thursday) and Cal State East Bay (Friday) to wrap up the regular season.
In other key conference matchups, Cal Poly Pomona and Humboldt State square off in Pomona, Sonoma State is at San Francisco State, Cal State San Bernardino is at Cal State Monterey Bay, and Cal State L.A. hosts Cal State Stanislaus.
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