Box Score ARCATA – College basketball is a 40-minute game. But the first 20 were all last-place Humboldt State needed to stick it to the rival Chico State men 80-73 Thursday night in Arcata. The Lumberjacks laid it on Chico State, scoring 52 first-half points – four more than they did during the entire game the first time these teams met this season – to build a 21-point lead.
The Wildcats beat Humboldt State 63-48 on Dec. 1 in Chico, a game that helped the them enter Thursday night’s contest ranked second in the nation in scoring defense at 57.1 points per game.
They say the numbers can be thrown out the window in a rivalry game. Thursday night they were right.
The Wildcats led 24-21 with 9:54 left in the first half before the Humboldt fog set in. The Lumberjacks lunged ahead with a 10-0 run that begat a 31-7 ransacking aided by 15 first-half Chico State turnovers that put the Lumberjacks in control. The Wildcats entered the game averaging just 12.9 turnovers per game.
It all added up to the most points a Chico State team has allowed in one half since Cal State San Bernardino scored 54 in the second half of an 84-67 loss on Feb. 6, 2009.
The horrendous half meant the Wildcats would have to be nearly perfect in the second half to have any chance at winning. They were close to perfect for the first 16-plus minutes.
A 17-4 run cut the deficit to 56-48 and the Wildcats continued to chisel away at the lead, getting it all the way down to 68-65 on a pair of Sean Park free throws with 4:46 left.
They had two possessions in which they were just a 3-pointer away from tying the game, but Rashad Parker and Spencer Moyer committed consecutive turnovers.
Moyer’s fumble led directly to a steal and breakaway bucket that proved to be the beginning of the end of Chico State’s dreams for a historic comeback. The Wildcats committed two more turnovers and allowed a pair of clock-draining offensive over the final three minutes.
Chico State’s defense was much better in the second half, but second chances plagued the Wildcats, who allowed 17 offensive rebounds.
Amir Carraway led Chico State with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Sean Park rebounded from a horrendous first half (1-of-6 shooting and six turnovers), scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second stanza. Damario Sims scored nine and Arcata native Jordan Semple had seven points, four five boards and three blocked shots in his return home.
The loss was Chico State’s second in their last six meetings with Humboldt State and dropped the Wildcats to 10-7 overall and 7-6 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. They also fell from tied for third to fifth in the conference standings and must next play at first-place Cal Poly Pomona Saturday night.
Humboldt State – led by Austin Bryan’s 25 points – improved to 8-9 overall and 4-9 in the CCAA.
