Box Score Sorry ladies, the only thing Damario Sims had his heart set on kissing Saturday night was the floor in Acker Gym.

Sims kissed the Chico State athletics logo before leaving the court to a standing ovation with 11 seconds remaining in the final regular season home game for him and fellow Wildcat seniors Spencer Moyer, Jake Lovisolo, Jason Conrad and James Staniland – a deeply satisfying 70-60 win against Cal State L.A.

Those five started each half for the Wildcats, outscoring the Golden Eagles 22-14 while on the floor together, to key their ninth consecutive home victory. That’s the longest home unbeaten stretch in the Greg Clink era. And the Wildcats are 26-5 at Acker Gym over the last two seasons.

“That’s just me showing how much this place means to me,” said Sims of the kiss. He scored a team-high 13 points to move into ninth on the school’s career scoring list.

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With the Wildcats’ hopes of hosting one more game at Acker Gym this season likely on the line, Clink put his faith in his five seniors to get the ‘Cats off to a fast start. They did just that.

They raced to a 17-10 lead as Moyer knocked down a 3 and dished out four assists in the first 6:24. Staniland was the beneficiary of two of those helpers, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers. Sims also sank a 3, Conrad contributed five quick points and a block, and Lovisolo grabbed a couple of early steals.

They got Chico State off to a quick second-half start as well. Sims scored on a drive and then Lovisolo found Moyer for a 3 to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the night, 47-34.

Staniland and Lovisolo were making their first collegiate starts and Moyer just his fifth. Sims made his 81st consecutive start Saturday, and Conrad has gotten the call in 55 of the Wildcats’ last 57 contests.

Sims was asked jokingly if perhaps Clink has been missing the boat all along by not starting all five seniors.

“I wouldn’t say Clink’s been screwing up, but I’ll watch the film and let you know,” he chuckled.

Clink was a bit choked up following the win.

“To watch those guys contribute the way they did is one of the highlights of my career,” he said. “They played well and built us a lead in each of the halves. Jake diving on loose balls, Spencer hitting shots, Staniland coming in and doing what he does on the offensive end was just really special.”

Chico State improved to 15-9 overall with its fifth straight win and moved into a tie with Cal State L.A. for fourth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings at 12-8.

Amir Carraway joined Sims with 13 points and Staniland scored 11. Moyer contributed career highs of five assists and two steals. Lovisolo’s two steals were also a career high. Conrad finished with eight points, five rebounds, and his 79th career blocked shot. Park scored all nine of his points in the second half. And Semple did his usual stat-sheet stuffing with seven points, nine boards and three steals.

The Wildcats and Golden Eagles trail second-place Cal State San Bernardino by two games and third-place San Francisco State by one game with two to play. The top four teams at the end of the regular season will host a first-round CCAA Championship Tournament game on March 5. Cal State Dominguez Hills is in fifth place at 11-9.

It was fitting that Sims did a push-up to get his lips to the court. It certainly was not his first one on the shiny beige surface.

“I put so much blood, sweat and tears into this place. My last five years have been completely dedicated this program,” said Sims. “There’s never been a single regret. There’s no program in the nation that has something as special going on as we do here.”

Sims, Lovisolo and Moyer were part of Clink’s original recruiting class. Conrad committed a little less than a year later. And Staniland transferred into the program two seasons ago.

Sims will wrap up his career among Chico State’s all-time leaders in points, 3-pointers, and assists. Conrad is closing in on the career blocked shots record. And Staniland boasts two of the 10 best 3-point shooting seasons in school history.

But Clink was especially excited to point out the contributions made by Moyer and Lovisolo over the past five seasons.

“We talk about Damario and Jason a lot. We’ve spent some time talking about James. But Spencer and Jake are just the backbone of everything we do, not just from a basketball standpoint, but from a culture standpoint,” he said. “They’re great students. They come to work every day. They put their hard hat on and just get after it.”

The Wildcats’ 13-point lead early in the second half was whittled to three on a couple of occasions. But Chico State’s vaunted defense stiffened and didn’t allow a Golden Eagles’ field goal for a five-minute stretch.

Sims zipped a pass to Jordan Semple for an inside bucket with 5:07 to play that put the Wildcats ahead by eight and Clink quickly called a timeout.

He pounded the floor with his hand four times in one his most animated displays in five seasons as a coach, imploring his team to leave everything they had on said floor.

“It was all about urgency,” he would say after the game.

The Wildcats responded.

“To have your leader do that, it just communicates so much,” said Sims. “He doesn’t do it very often. But when he does, it means a lot.”

Sims secured a defensive rebound in traffic coming out of the break and Sean Park hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to 10. Semple snared an offensive rebound moments later that led to Park’s jumper in the lane. And then Park responded to his own turnover with a sneaky steal from behind to milk more time off the clock.

Still committed to his coaches’ directive to finish strong even when the game seemed well in hand, Semple stole the ball with 27 seconds left and Carraway canned a pair of free throws to salt the game away.

The Wildcats will wrap up the regular season at Cal State East Bay Thursday and Cal State Monterey Bay Friday. Two more wins would give them their third best conference record since joining the CCAA in 1998-99 and help build their NCAA Tournament resume. The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked No. 10 in the West. Eight will advance to the tournament.

“These are special, special guys and I’m relishing the opportunity to coach them for as long as we can keep playing,” said Clink.

One thing’s for certain: It’s not going to be easy to get these guys off the floor.