POMONA – For years the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team has held the reputation as the best defensive team in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. But under the direction of Head Coach Greg Clink, Chico State has tried to wrestle that reputation away. Friday night the Wildcats took another big step in that direction.
 
The Wildcats held the Broncos scoreless over the final two minutes and forced leading scorer Terrance Drisdom into an off-balance 18-foot airball as time expired in a 51-50 victory at Kellogg Gym.
 
Chico State, 7-3 overall and 4-1 in the CCAA, moved into a three-way tie atop the CCAA standings with Cal State Stanislaus and Sonoma State with its first win in Pomona since 2009. Cal Poly Pomona, the preseason conference favorite, fell to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the CCAA.
 
The Wildcats have now won nine consecutive CCAA road games. The last time they lost a conference game on the road was Jan. 23 in Pomona.
 
Defense has keyed that streak. The Wildcats had allowed just 59.9 points per game entering Friday night's affair and they've been even better this season, limiting their hosts to 50.7 points per game.
 
The defense was suffocating from the start, containing the Broncos to nine points in the game's first 15 minutes.
 
The Wildcats used a 15-0 run spanning the first and second halves to take the lead for good. Drew Kitchens countered the Broncos' 7-0 push with consecutive 3s to end the first half.  Tanner Giddings gave them the lead with a three-point play out of the break. A Chris Magolotti tip-in and inside buckets by Jordan Semple and Giddings stretched the advantage to 27-19 with 17:08 to play.
 
The lead grew as large as nine before the Broncos' offense finally started finding small cracks in the Wildcats' defensive wall.
 
Four times the Broncos pulled to within a bucket. All four times the Wildcats responded.
 
The lead was down to two before Semple sank a 3-pointer with 9:29 remaining. The lead was down to one before Michael Rosaroso ripped through the lane and delivered a dime to Magalotti for a two-handed mash with 7:07 to go. The lead was back down to two when Robert Duncan fired a bullet pass to Giddings under the bucket. He was fouled and sunk both free throws with 2:17 to play.
 
Drisdom's 3-pointer made it a one-point game with 2:03 remaining. But Wildcats got two big stops and defensive rebounds. They failed to score on the offensive end, however, setting up the Broncos' potential game-winning possession.
 
They called timeout with 17 seconds remaining and drew up a play. The Wildcats negated all of the good options, however, and Drisdom wound up with the ball 40 feet from the basket with six seconds to play. He dribbled left against the 6-foot-10 Giddings and was forced to settle for the off-balance jumper that never drew iron.
 
Duncan provided the offense Chico State needed to hold on down the stretch scoring all 11 of his points in the final 15:18. The sophomore also snagged a career-high five rebounds. Semple supplied another stat-sheet stuffer with 11 points, five rebounds, three steals, two assists and a blocked shot. His season-high three steals brought his career total to 110, which is tied for fourth most in school history with Antone Curtis.
 
The Wildcats will look to keep rolling on the road Saturday night at UC San Diego (4-5, 2-3 CCAA). Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30.