The Chico State men's basketball team took advantage of its brief three-game home stand, getting the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) conference season off to a positive start with a pair of impressive wins. This week the Wildcats take their show on the road to try to add to their victory total and stay in the upper reaches of the CCAA standings. The 'Cats will be in Arcata Thursday to take on Cal Poly Humboldt at 7:30 p.m., then head to Rohnert Park Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest against Sonoma State.
Fans can follow the action of both games locally on KPAY Sports 1290-AM, with Mike Baca's broadcast simulcast on the Internet. Live Stats and live streaming video are also available online, with links located on the Wildcat Athletics homepage and the men's basketball schedule page. Accessing the live video stream requires a monthly subscription fee that grants users access to every CCAA event on the network, home and away.
The Wildcats are 3-4 overall as they head out on the road, but are tied for fourth place in the CCAA with a 2-1 conference record. Last week Chico State lost a tough 67-65 decision to Cal State LA Thursday before bouncing back with the team's biggest offensive output of the season in an 83-77 win over Cal State San Marcos.
The 'Cats' are scoring to the tune of 71 points a game, while on the defensive end surrendering an average of 74.6 points a game.
Jojo Murphy, fresh off a career-high 30 points against San Marcos, enters the weekend as the Wildcats' leading scorer (17.6 points a game) and is ranked sixth in the CCAA. Evan Oliver and Joshua Hamilton are averaging 11.9 and 11.7 points a contest, respectively, with Oliver knocking down a team-high 14 3-pointers. Justin Vigil (8.6 ppg) is Chico State's leading rebounder and ranks in the top 10 in the CCAA, pulling down 6.6 boards a contest.
Cal Poly Humboldt, which hosts the Wildcats Thursday, is 4-4 on the season and sitting atop the CCAA standings with a 3-0 conference mark. The Lumberjacks won a pair of road contests last week, edging Cal State Dominguez Hills 71-69 Thursday and besting Cal State East Bay 84-71 on Saturday.
The 'Jacks are currently the second-highest scoring team among the 12 CCAA schools, averaging 80.8 points a game. Defensively, it's the exact opposite—Humboldt has given up a conference-worst 82.6 points a contest.
Two of the CCAA's top individual scorers belong to the Lumberjacks. Senior guard Jaden Edwards is averaging 16.8 points a game, while another senior guard, Marlon Ruffin, chimes in with 16.7 points a contest. Edwards in tied for the conference lead in rebounding (8.3 boards a game), with junior guard Malek Davis (12.3 ppg) contributing 18 3-pointers on the season.
The Wildcats took both meetings with Humboldt last season, and have won 11 of the last 12 contests with the Lumberjacks. Chico State holds a 33-32 edge in the all-time series between the two teams.
Sonoma State, which takes on Chico State Saturday afternoon following a Thursday night contest against Stanislaus State, begins the week 2-7 on the season and in a five-way tie for sixth place in the CCAA with a 1-2 conference record. Last week, Sonoma needed overtime to down Cal State East Bay Thursday 67-61, but were handed an 82-62 setback Saturday in Carson against Cal State Dominguez Hills.
The Seawolves are averaging a solid 71.7 points a game on offense, but have found the going rough defensively, surrendering 78.7 points per contest.
Sophomore forward Jaylen Wells, the CCAA Player of the Week for the past two weeks, leads the Seawolves and the conference in scoring with a 23 points per game average. Wells owns a share of the conference lead in rebounding (8.3 boards a contest), and his 13 3-pointers is tied for the team lead with senior forward Nick Klarman (11.8 points a game).
Chico State won both ends of the two-game season series with Sonoma State in 2021–22, and have won four straight against the Seawolves dating back to 2019. In the all-time series, the Wildcats hold a narrow 35-34 lead.
