LA JOLLA—A brilliant first half by the bench kept the Chico State men's basketball team afloat, and an 8-0 run early in the first half drew the Wildcats even with Cal Poly Pomona in Friday's California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament semifinal in La Jolla. But the rest of the game belonged to the Broncos, who went on a 27-6 run over the next eight minutes and beat Chico State for the third time this season, 78-53.

The Wildcats, now 23-7 on the season and ranked No. 4 in the West Region entering the CCAA Tournament, will learn of their NCAA Championship Tournament fate Sunday night. Friends, family and fans are invited to join the team for an NCAA Selection Show viewing party upstairs at The Madison Bear Garden from 6:30–8. The selection show is scheduled to begin at 7:30.

Cal Poly Pomona, 22-7 and No. 3 in the West, will take on West No. 1 UC San Diego Saturday night for the CCAA Tournament banner.

While the Wildcats are almost certain to receive an NCAA Tournament bid, it's a safe bet that the celebration will end as soon as Monday rolls around and the afternoon's practice schedule is set.

"We should elevate ourselves. It should be the hardest week of practice is terms of our effort level, our mental toughness, and keying in on whoever we're going to play," said Chico State guard Kevin Warren, who was named the CCAA Championship Scholar prior to the game. "It's a new tournament. We want to play our best basketball next week, obviously. I think practice this week will be a huge factor in how well we play next week."

Head Coach Greg Clink is already formulating some practice plans after what he felt was a lackluster effort in the second half, especially on the defensive end.

"I'm disappointed in how we played in the second half. I thought the first half, although it wasn't pretty, we battled," Clink said. "I thought we let our offensive adversity effect our defense in the second half."

Though the first half was a struggle for the Wildcats, the bench gave them huge lift. Kelvin Wright Jr. led the Wildcats with seven first-half points in only 8:39 of action and also contributed two rebounds and an assist. Amari Stroud chipped in five points and four rebounds in less than seven minutes of work, and Colby Orr knocked down a triple as the bench combined for 15 of the Wildcats' 26 first-half points.

Despite missing 8 of 9 threes and shooting only 39 percent in the opening stanza, the Wildcats stayed within striking distance thanks to the big lift off the bench and limiting the Broncos to 41 percent shooting.

"Our bench has been huge, especially lately," Clink said. "They've sparked us throughout the year. They've done a great job of executing their roles. Defensively they've always given us a lift, but as of late, they've done a better job offensively of giving us more scoring."

In the opening minutes of the second half, the starters suddenly came alive. Warren ripped home a miss on a fast break to trim the deficit to five. Wildcats leading scorer Malik Duffy then scored his first bucket of the day, and back on the defensive end, grabbed a steal and passed ahead to Warren for the hoop and the harm. Warren sank the free throw, completing the three-point play, and knotting the score at 34-all.

Cal Poly Pomona answered by scoring the next seven points, and after an Isaiah Brooks 3-pointer momentarily stopped the bleeding, the Broncos scored the next eight to take control for good.

"The thing I was most disappointed with was our defensive effort in the second half. We didn't execute. We stopped talking. We stopped competing like we're capable of," Clink said. "So that's the thing that disappoints me the most with our performance."

Wright believes a full week of practice prior to Friday's opening round will help remind them of how hard they can compete.

"At practice people are scrapping and fighting for everything and have the mentality that we're going to win," said the redshirt freshman. "We just have to start playing others as hard as we compete in practice.

Keep an eye on www.chicowildcats.com Sunday night to find out who the Wildcats' first-round opponent will be.