The California Collegiate Athletic Association Basketball Championship Tournament's new six-team format provides the top-two finishers in CCAA play with a first-round bye. The Chico State men's basketball team has a chance to take two big steps toward that reward on the road at Cal Poly Pomona Thursday night at Humboldt State Saturday night.

Chico State, 11-3 overall, is currently in a three-way tie for third in the conference standings at 7-3, two games behind Cal Poly Pomona. The Wildcats could cut that cushion in half with a win Thursday night.

That won't be easy, however. The Broncos (11-3 overall) are riding a nine-game win streak and beat Chico State in each of their four meetings last season.

Despite Humboldt State's struggles this season, Saturday's game marks an obvious challenge as well. The Lumberjacks are just 7-9 overall and 2-8 in the CCAA, but have won two of their last four and nearly knocked off Cal State L.A. Saturday night. They also happen to be the Wildcats' longest-running rivals.

Chico State boasts the CCAA's second-leading offense and second-stingiest defense. However, the Wildcats are coming off a weekend in which they struggled to beat Cal State East Bay and then let a 12-point lead slip away in a last-second loss to Cal State Monterey Bay.

That was just the Wildcats' fifth loss in their last 25 games dating back to the midway point of last season, however.

MILESTONE WATCH
Rashad Parker needs to make two 3-pointers to reach 100 in his career. A dozen Wildcats have accomplished the feat, including Parker's former teammates Sims and Jay Flores, and current teammate Amir Carraway, who has made 112.

Sean Park became the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 points Friday night against Cal State East Bay. Now with 1,029 points, he's 12 shy of catching former teammate Roderick Hawkins for 12th in school history.