SAN BERNARDINO—The only thing more perfect for the Chico State men's basketball team than its 91-82 win against Cal State San Bernardino in Saturday night's NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional semifinals was the way Isaiah Brooks described the experience in the postgame presser. "It's what we live for," Brooks said. "This is my first West Regional and I just want to soak up as much as I can and be with my brothers. It's just magical. I know at the end of the day when I look forward 10 years from now, it's going to be something that I look back on and I'm gonna call Colby (Orr) and we're going to talk about it and we're gonna look back on these moments. It's surreal. And I'm very thankful."
It marked Chico State's third win in three tries this season against the Coyotes, whose season ended at 24-4. This third time will be a yarn. And one that might sound implausible as the members of the 2021-22 spin it, year after year. But the proof is out there. It's tough to beat a good team three times. It took a spectacular performance to do it.
The Wildcats out-offensed the top offense in the West Region, shooting a blistering 51%, including 14-of-29 from 3-point range. Colby Orr came off the bench to lead the effort, scoring a career-high 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting (6-of-9 from three). Assistant Coach Cevin Meador spurred him on from the bench. "You're a baaaaad man, Colby Orr," he exhorted. "You're a baaaaaaaad man."
Backcourt mate Brooks scored 17 points and had seven assists, Malik Duffy finished with 15 points, Joshua Hamilton had 12, and Evan Oliver and Kelvin Wright Jr. eight apiece. Kevin Warren contributed five points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
The Wildcats, now 21-4, will face Sweet 16 Cinderella Alaska in Monday night's 7 p.m. NCAA Tournament West Regional title game with a berth in the Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana, on March 22–26 on the line. Alaska beat Azusa Pacific 72-71 in overtime in Saturday's second semifinal game and has now won six straight postseason games after opening the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament as its No. 10 seed with a record of 8-14. The Nanooks are now 14-14.
The Wildcats will not be taking them lightly. Chico State Head Coach Greg Clink, winner of his 250
th game as Chico State's leader Saturday night, wrapped up his jubilant postgame address by reminding his team to not be satisfied. "Let's get one more," he implored.
If the Wildcats do, and even if they go on to post the program's first ever Elite Eight victory—and even beyond—they'll still talk about Saturday night's win for years to come.
The Wildcats played a fearless brand of basketball, creating shots for each other and taking them—and making them—when they came open.
"If I have a good shot but Isaiah has a great shot, I have the utmost confidence swinging it to him that he's going to knock it down," Orr said. "I feel that way about everybody on our team and I think everybody feels the same way. We all are having a lot of fun seeing each other be successful. We're just really good friends and we all really like playing with each other and that makes it a lot easier on the court."
An early 8-0 run staked Cal State San Bernardino to an 18-10 lead before the Wildcats roared back with a 13-2 push highlighted by two Oliver triples. Orr's third three of the half, followed by a pair of Duffy free throws, pushed the Wildcats' advantage to 40-33, and Oliver got loose in the lane for a buzzer-beating layup to make it 42-35 at intermission.
Oliver, who grew up just down the road in Highland and whose father is a legend at Cal State San Bernardino (having led the Coyotes to numerous NCAA Championship Tournament during his 16 years as the head basketball coach), helped spark another big run in the second half. He swiped two steals and added an assist and a rebound in the span of two-and-a-half minutes as the Wildcats ran off 10 straight points. His +10 plus/minus was second on the team and came in just under 11 minutes of action.
"Evan gave us a huge spark," Clink said. "He knows his job is to come in and play with great energy and he did it. I'm really proud of him."
Orr hit two threes and a jumper during the push that stretched Chico State's edge to 68-51, its largest of the night. His final three during that flurry gave him a career-high 22 points. He added two more buckets down the stretch, including—fittingly—Chico State's last of the night.
"Like he's done many times this season, Colby Orr put us on his back and just made play after play after play on both ends of the floor," Clink said.
Orr was happy to do his part.
"I just want to do whatever needs to be done to win," he said. "If that means I'm out there playing or sitting on the bench cheering for whoever is out there, I'm going to do it. Whatever at the end of the day gets us a win is what I want to be doing."
To the surprise of no one in the gym who watched them roar back from 25 points down to beat Cal Poly Pomona on Friday night, the Coyotes had another run in them. Just over three minutes later the once-17-point lead was down to six. Kevin Warren grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked out to Hamilton for a 3-pointer and Orr scored on a drive to stem the tide. But the Coyotes kept coming, and Darius Lubom's fast-break triple trimmed the lead to 79-76 with 4:29 to play.
The lead was four with 2:10 remaining when Brooks went to the line and made two huge free throws. He made five of six down the stretch. Orr then made the first of two decisive defensive plays down the stretch, stripping Lubom of the ball in the paint. On the Coyotes' next possession, Wright Jr. took a charge (originally ruled a foul but overturned upon review). On Chico State's following possession, Orr's jumper in the lane with 53 seconds left went, giving the Wildcats an 88-80 lead.
It was the knockout blow on a night in which both teams threw some hellacious punches.
"We're so similar, it just comes to blow after blow after blow and we're just throwing haymakers at each other, and it just comes down to who wants it more and who has more grit," Brooks said. "It's just guys going at each other. That's a really competitive team and we're a group of competitive guys, so it's a dog fight no matter what."
The Wildcats are in for another scrap on Monday night. A win would net the program's third NCAA Championship Tournament West Region title in nine seasons, the last two of which they did not play in due COVID-19 cancelations.
"One more," Brooks was telling everyone who would listen. "One more."
