Nothing comes easy in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Take Friday night for example. While the Chico State men's basketball team toughed out a 61-50 victory over San Francisco State, two huge upsets and two overtime games were taking place around the CCAA.
 
Entering the night, the Wildcats were in a three-way tie for third place. When the dust settled, they were tied for second, a game behind only UC San Diego.
 
But the dust was flying before that. The 25^th-ranked Wildcats were in control for much of the night before a 12-0 San Francisco State run gave the Gators a 38-37 lead with 11:53 remaining.
 
Head Coach Greg Clink called a timeout and Jalen McFerren gave the Wildcats the lead back for good 13 seconds later with his first basket of the game – a 3-pointer from the right wing that sparked a 7-0 run. A few minutes later, a 9-0 run, propelled by another McFerren triple, gave Chico State a 13-point edge with four minutes remaining.
 
Chico State has now won 12 straight conference games at home. The Wildcats, 13-3 overall and 7-2 in the CCAA, have won 13 of their first 16 games for the first time since 1992-93.
 

San Francisco State slipped to 8-6 overall and 2-6 in the CCAA.
 
The Wildcats have now seven straight and 10 of 11 against their oldest rivals to close the Gators' lead in the series to 101-100.
 
Chico State played without injured leading scorer Robert Duncan. Regular starter Chris Magalotti, also nursing an injury, was out of the starting lineup for the first time this season. Corey Silverstrom started for his second time as a collegiate in Duncan's place and Isaiah Ellis made his first collegiate start in place of Magalotti.
 
But it took a total team effort on both sides of the ball to make up for those absences. Silverstrom and Drew Kitchens led the team with 12 points and three steals apiece. Ellis scored 10 points. McFerren and Tanner Giddings chipped in eight points each. McFerren, a 5-foot-10 point guard, also finished with a game-high nine rebounds and dished out four assists.
 
Defensively, the Wildcats limited San Francisco State to a season-low three made 3-pointers on 15 attempts while improving to 48-1 over the past four-plus seasons when limiting their opponent to fewer than 60 points.
 
Outside of the win, the story of the night was the play of freshman Marvin Timothy, who had seen just eight minutes of action at home this season. Just after he entered the game late in the first half, with the shot clock about to expire, Timothy took the Acker faithful by surprise with a thunderous two-handed follow rip.
 
The 6-foot-9 forward/center scored on a gorgeous one-bounce spin on the Wildcats' next offensive possession and also grabbed a defensive rebound in his four minutes of action.
 
The Wildcats will be right back at it tomorrow night against Sonoma State, attempting to get to 14-3 for the first time since 1944-45 and avenge a 61-58 loss to the Seawolves on Dec. 19 in Rohnert Park.
 
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.