HAYWARD – Just a few years ago, Chico State's Greg Clink was a new head coach trying to build his men's basketball program into a winner. Before long, the Wildcats were giving the California Collegiate Athletic Association's perennial powers all they could handle.
 
Today, the script is flipped. Clink has led the Wildcats to four straight NCAA Championship Tournaments and won two conference titles along the way. Meanwhile, the Wildcats are being circled on the calendar by some up-and-coming coaches looking to build momentum for their programs.
 
That was the case this weekend for the Wildcats, who tackled a challenging road trip to face Paul Trevor's San Francisco State Gators and Gus Argenal's Cal State East Bay Pioneers.
 
Both of those teams have turned heads with their early-season success and both battled the Wildcats to the wire.
 
But just as they did Friday in San Francisco, the Wildcats came from behind to beat Cal State East Bay 57-54 Saturday night in Pioneer Gymnasium for their eighth consecutive regular-season road win.
 
Chico State, ranked No. 23 in the nation, improved to 7-1 overall, 2-0 in the CCAA, and 6-0 away from home. The Wildcats have now beaten Cal State East Bay nine times in a row. The Pioneers fell to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the CCAA.
 
Corey Silverstrom came off the bench to lead Chico State in scoring for the fifth time this season with 16 points. The sophomore also set a new personal standard with three assists and matched his career high with six rebounds. Isaiah Ellis finished with 13 points, six rebounds and had career highs in blocks (4) and steals (2). Tanner Giddings scored all 10 of his points in the second half on 5-of-8 shooting. And though Robert Duncan was held to just five shots, he contributed six points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
 
Argenal was Clink's assistant at Chico State for three seasons and played for Clink while he was an assistant at UC Davis. Argenal's top assistant is Chico State's former CCAA Player of the Year, Jay Flores.
 
So it was no surprise that the Pioneers played like a team desperate to win. Chico State was also playing on back-to-back nights. Cal State East Bay had not played since a huge win at Cal State San Bernardino on Tuesday.
 
Despite it all, with the game on the line knotted 43-all with less than four minutes to play, the Wildcats found a way.
 
Giddings grabbed a steal and played give-and-go with Jalen McFerren for the go-ahead bucket with 3:43 to play.
 
McFerren assisted on Ellis' slashing score before Giddings gave the Wildcats a 49-44 advantage with 2:01 left on another inside bucket.
 
Cal State East Bay did not go quietly.
 

The Pioneers used a 3-pointer to get back to within two, and after Silverstrom sank his first two of four consecutive free throws in the final 68 seconds, Jalen Richardson scored inside to trim the Pioneers' deficit to two with 44 ticks left.
 
Cal State East Bay's Alex Carmon made a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining after Duncan's acrobatic floater had stretched the lead back to four, making it a one-possession game once again.
 
Silverstrom made two more charities with five seconds left before the Warriors banked in a 3-pointer to give them one last breath. McFerren made two free throws with one second left before Carmon's three-quarters court heave clanged off the backboard and iron before falling harmlessly to the court.
 
The Pioneers led 23-19 before Silverstrom scored a layup just before the half that started a 15-3 run. Ellis, Giddings and Silverstrom sank jumpers in succession to give the Wildcats the lead. That lead grew to as large as eight on two occasions.
 
But the Pioneers made their own push – outscoring the Wildcats 13-3 to take a 41-39 lead with 6:37 to play, setting the stage for another late come-from-behind win for the Wildcats.
 
The Wildcats will play their final non-conference game of the regular season Wednesday at Stanislaus State. The Warriors (3-3 this season) and Wildcats are part of a five-way tie for first place atop the CCAA standings at 2-0 in conference play.
 
Chico State will resume conference play with its CCAA home opener next Saturday against Cal State San Marcos (4-3, 2-0 CCAA). It will mark the first meeting between the programs.
 
Every Chico State basketball game this season will be broadcast locally on Newstalk 1290 KPAY-AM. Links to streaming audio, video and live stats are available in the calendar section on the ChicoWildcats.com homepage and on the men's basketball schedule page.