As the two-time reigning California Collegiate Athletic Association Champion, the Chico State men's basketball team is growing accustomed to getting every opponent's "A" game. It happened once again Saturday night.
Fortunately for the 23
rd-ranked Wildcats, they were up to the challenge once again, beating Cal State Dominguez Hills 77–70 in Acker Gym.
Jalen McFerren had 20 points and 10 rebounds, leading five Wildcats in double-figures, as they improved to 15-2 overall and 8-1 in the CCAA. Chico State, which has now won nine straight, cut first-place UC San Diego's conference lead to just a half game as the teams near the midway point of the conference season.
The home win was Chico State's 10
th straight to start the season, breaking the 1997-98 team's school record for consecutive home wins to kick off a campaign.
Robert Duncan scored nine of his 16 points in the final four minutes, closing the door on a hard-charging Toros squad that sank six straight 3-pointers from the 3:35 mark to the 35-second mark.
Duncan also delivered six rebounds and three assists to move past Chico White (1979-82) into 10
th on the school's career assists list with 235.
Isaiah Ellis had 13 points, and Justin Briggs and Corey Silverstrom scored 10 apiece. Briggs also accounted for five of the Wildcats' 10 blocked shots–just one shy of the school record.
Robert Duncan scored 9 points in the final 4
minutes. He also dished out 3 assists to move
into 10th on the program's all-time assists list
one night after eclipsing 1,000 career points.
Vincent Golson, who made four of the Toros' late 3-pointers, finished with a game-high 25 points. The Toros slipped to 8-6 overall and 4-4 in the CCAA.
After trailing only briefly in the opening minutes, Chico State led by as many as 10 in the first half and built the lead to 13 in the second stanza.
Duncan's jumper inside with four minutes to play gave them a 60–48 lead. But Golson made consecutive triples in a 20-second span and the lead was down to six.
Duncan made a pair of free throws before another Toros triple–this one by Dharion Tanner, trimmed the lead to five with 2:47 to play.
Cal State Dominguez Hills fouled Briggs on the other end of the floor and the big man made both free throws. But Golson answered with yet another 3-pointer, pulling the Toros back within four–the closest they had been since early in the second half.
Duncan answered, taking a pass from Ellis (which turned into his career-best-matching fourth assist) on the left wing and burying and off-balanced 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounded.
After another Tanner triple, Duncan went the other way for a layup, and following Golson's driving bucket on the other end, Duncan fed Briggs for an alley-oop in transition, pushing the lead back to six with just 54 ticks on the clock.
McFerren made six straight free throws in the final 45 seconds to seal the deal.
Chico State will now hit the road for games at Humboldt State and Cal Poly Pomona next week. They are in Arcata Thursday and Pomona Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. each night.
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.
Justin Briggs had five more blocks Saturday, brining his CCAA-leading total to 41.
