This is a new era in Chico State men’s basketball. It announced its arrival with a 40-minute roar inside of a packed Acker Gym where the program’s first home playoff game since 1994 was taking place. It was confirmed by the Wildcats’ ability to win yet another game with the same grit and determination they’ve displayed throughout the good years and bad, plus a deep roster saturated with talent and athleticism that the program has rarely, if ever, possessed.
That talent is evident in players like freshman Jordan Semple, who snapped the Wildcats’ startlingly familiar 1-for-13 shooting slump starting the second half against Cal State Dominguez Hills with back-to-back 3-pointers that sent the Wildcats on their way to a 52-45 win against the Toros Tuesday night.
The athleticism is apparent in the fast-twitch muscle fibers of Damario Sims, who sandwiched a steal with a high-rising jumper in the lane and a lightening-quick runner at an angle from the right wing that drew a foul and fell home.
A two-point deficit turned abruptly into a nine-point lead and the Wildcats were on their way to their 23rd win of the season – tied for the second most in school history and just two off the record.
Chico State, 23-6 overall, will now take on the lone team on its schedule it has yet to beat during this magical 2011-12 season – Sonoma State – in the second round of the CCAA Championship Tournament Friday at 2:30 at RIMAC Arena on the campus of UC San Diego. The winner advances to Saturday night’s 5 p.m. tournament title game, a place no Chico State men’s basketball team has ever gone.
Amir Carraway led the Wildcats with 11 points, Sean Park and Sims scored nine apiece, and Semple finished with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Ranked No. 4 in the West Region in the most recent poll, released last Wednesday, the Wildcats have won three straight since, and seem to have cemented a berth in the NCAA Championship Tournament for the first time since 2005 with Tuesday night’s win.
Cal State Dominguez Hills’ season came to an end at 12-13. Van Girard II finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and a pair of steals. Robert Willhite, Wayne Andrews and Sheldon Allen scored 10 points apiece. But the Toros were held to just 37-percent shooting and missed all 14 of their 3-point attempts against a Wildcats team that entered the night ranked fifth in the nation in scoring defense.
The first 11 minutes of the second half, however, it was the Wildcats who were shooting blanks, bringing to life fears of a repeat performance against the Toros at Acker Gym. Back on Jan. 13, the Wildcats watched a 17-point halftime lead evaporate when the missed 26 of 29 second-half shots in a 49-46 loss to the Toros. They made just one basket over the game’s final 10 minutes.
Tuesday, they made just one in the first 10 minutes of the second half and watched a six-point halftime lead go by the wayside. But this time, Semple broke the deepening spell. The Wildcats trailed 36-34 when Sean Park pushed the tempo following a defensive rebound and found Semple standing alone in the corner. He rose up and knocked down the biggest shot of his blossoming career.
After the Wildcats forced a turnover, Semple grabbed the biggest of his three offensive boards. Moments later, the Wildcats came out of a media timeout with great ball movement and a James Staniland touch pass from under the bucket found the hot hand in the same spot. Semple knocked another one home and after the Toros had fought tooth and nail to work their way back from an 11-point deficit late in the first half, the Wildcats were quickly back in control.
Sims kept it that way by scoring the game’s next five points.
With their season – and for some their collegiate careers – on the line, Cal State Dominguez Hills fought back desperately, getting as close as 47-41 on a Girard II layup at the 1:14 mark.
But Jay Flores and Park delivered the dagger on the Wildcats’ next possession. Flores attacked the lane with the shot clock winding down, got knocked off balance, and dribbled into the lane on his hands and knees. Still, he spotted Park open at the top of the key. His pass from the floor found him just in time, and when Park’s shot fell home, it evoked the loudest reaction in Acker Gym since the Wildcats were winning four straight conference titles in the early 1990s.
“I never hear the crowd,” Wildcats Head Coach Greg Clink said. “But I heard them then.”
That was the loudest the Wildcat faithful got all night, but they saved their most memorable salute for the team’s two seniors – Flores and Jackson – who came off the Acker Gym floor for the final time with 10 seconds remaining to a prolonged standing ovation.
When the buzzer sounded, the reverberating buzz surrounded who the Wildcats’ second-round opponent would be. Three upsets were brewing at that point. But the higher seeds all came from behind to prevail. No. 2 seed Cal Poly Pomona got a Tyquan Brown layup at the buzzer to beat No. 7 Cal State Stanislaus 69-67. No. 3 seed Humboldt State rallied from 11 points back to beat No. 6 Cal State L.A. 78-75. And No. 4 seed Sonoma State, behind by seven with 4:46 to play, completed a stirring comeback with Sterling Arterberry’s three-point play with one second remaining.
So Friday’s action will begin with Cal Poly Pomona and Humboldt State squaring off at noon. Chico State and Somona State will follow at 2:30.
The Seawolves (17-10) have been the lone thorn in the Wildcats’ side this season, beating them twice. They beat Chico State 61-54 on Dec. 19 in Rohnert Park, holding the Wildcats to 32-percent shooting in what was their fifth road game in 19 days.
On Jan. 27 in Chico, the Seawolves handed the Wildcats one of just two home losses this season and one of just three losses in their last 19 games, 62-59. They held Chico State without a field goal over the game’s final 6:43.
That win evened the all-time series between these long-time rivals at 41 games apiece.
Friday should be one heck of a rubber match.
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