The 2015-16 Chico State men's basketball team has been as dominant through 21 games as any in the 101-season history of the program.
 
Performances like Saturday night's, when the Wildcats battled from 12 points down in the second half to beat a red-hot Cal State Monterey Bay squad 72-68, are the reason why.
 
It was the fifth time this season the Wildcats have come from 10-plus points down to win.
 

Jalen McFerren and Robert Duncan led the charge. McFerren scored a career high 22 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Duncan made six of the Wildcats' last seven baskets – scoring 12 of his 19 points in the final 8:03 – as the Wildcats improved to 18-3 overall and 12-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).
 
The 1940-41 Chico State team, which finished the season 20-3, is the only other in those 101 years to boast 18 wins in its first 21 games.
 
The 14^th-ranked Wildcats have now won 16 straight conference games in Acker Gym and 32 of their last 36 regular-season games overall.
 
Duncan also racked up 10 rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks. He had 17 points and seven rebounds in the second half alone on the way to his third double-double of the season.
 
The 14^th-ranked Wildcats also got 11 points and five rebounds from Friday night's hero, Isaiah Ellis, whose main job Saturday was to limit conference scoring leader Ryan Nitz. He did a solid job, limiting Nitz (averaging 20 points per game entering the game) to 14.
 
Corey Silverstrom chipped in seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
 
Cal State Monterey Bay, winners of three straight entering the night, fell to 10-11 overall and 8-7 in the CCAA.
 
The Otters hit nine of their first 16 three-point attempts, including three straight during a 15-0 run that gave them a 55-43 lead and caused Wildcats Head Coach Greg Clink to burn his final timeout with 10:57 to play. He used it to remind the team about its defensive gameplan
 
His impassioned speech seemed to sink in. The Otters made just four field goals over the final nine minutes and their next eight possessions resulted in one made basket, two turnovers and five missed shots.
 
The Wildcats cleared the rebound on each miss and put together an 18-2 run. Duncan scored three buckets during the push, including a hellacious put-back dunk off a Giddings' miss that seemed to steel his focus.
 
He hit a jumper on the next possession and then McFerren drilled his fourth triple of the night to tie the score at 57.
 
Duncan then hit a jumper in the lane for a two-point lead, grabbed a rebound on the defensive end, and forced the issue to put Ellis in position to get fouled. The big man hit both free throws for a four-point lead.
 
The Otters were not ready to succumb, however, and held Chico State without a bucket during a nearly four-minute stretch to take back the lead, 64-63, on a Mateo Jones dunk.
 
But Duncan's layup with 1:23 left, assisted by McFerren, gave Chico State a 65-64 lead it would not relinquish.
 
The Wildcats led by five with 18 ticks to play after McFerren made four straight free throws and Silverstrom set up Duncan for a transition layup with 30 seconds left.
 
Patrick Lefiti scored inside for the Otters with 11 seconds remaining cut the lead to three. But Silverstrom sank a free throw with 10 seconds left to put the game away.
 
The win momentarily put Chico State in a tie for first place atop the CCAA standings. But UC San Diego came from seven points down to beat Cal State San Bernardino 71-66 and maintain a half-game lead on the Wildcats.
 
Those teams will tangle for first place Friday night in La Jolla in their lone meeting of the regular season. The winner will be in the drivers' seat for the conference title. The Wildcats are gunning for their third in the past five seasons.
 
Chico State will then play at Cal State San Bernardino Saturday before wrapping up the regular season with three of four at home.