LOS ANGELES—The Chico State men's basketball team is still in contention for one of the six available California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament berths, but the Wildcats seem to be going in the wrong direction at the exact wrong time. The Wildcats continue to be in the middle of an ever-tightening conference logjam, wrapping up a winless Southern California road trip Saturday afternoon by suffering their third straight defeat, as Cal State LA posted an 87-80 victory at the Eagles' Nest.
Chico State is now 10-13 on the season, and tied with San Francisco State and Cal State LA for fifth place in the CCAA with an 8-10 conference record. With two weeks left in the regular season, only one game separates fifth from 11th place in the CCAA—Cal State Monterey Bay is just percentage points behind the 'Cats, Gators, and Golden Eagles, with Cal Poly Pomona a half-game back, and Cal State East Bay and Stanislaus State just one game behind. The top six teams in the conference will earn a postseason berth and a trip to Turlock March 2-4 to play in the CCAA Tournament.
Joshua Hamilton turned in a great all-around game Saturday, leading the Wildcats with 22 points and eight assists while grabbing six rebounds. Jojo Murphy nailed a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 15 points, while Miles Daniels tallied 13 points and seven boards. Kelvin Wright Jr. just missed a double-double, contributing nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Wright scored the game's first basket, but Cal State LA reeled off 11 unanswered points to jump out to an early nine point lead. The Golden Eagles pushed their advantage to 22-8 before Chico State used 3-pointers by Hamilton, Murphy, and Brennan Wheeler to fuel a 19-8 run to pull the 'Cats to within 30-27. The Wildcats were still trailing by three when Cal State LA dropped in the last two buckets of the first half to take a 40-33 lead into intermission.
A three-point play by Hamilton at the start of the second half made it a two-point game, but Cal State LA refused to relinquish the lead. The Golden Eagles pushed its advantage to double digits at 53-42 before the Wildcats made another charge—Hamilton completed a three-point play, and Daniels, Wheeler, and Ham knocked down field goals to pull Chico State to within three at 53-50.
Once again Cal State LA responded, going back up by 11 with 7:02 to play. The 'Cats utilized a jumper by Daniels, a Murphy 3-pointer, and another three-point play by Hamilton to creep to within five with just over five minutes to go. But that would be as close as the Wildcats would get, as the Golden Eagles maintained a near-double digit lead for the rest of the contest, eventually handing Chico State an 87-80 loss and sweeping the season series with the Wildcats.
Chico State returns to the friendly confines of Acker Gym next week for its final two home games of the season. Thursday the Wildcats will tip it up against San Francisco State, then it's Senior Night on Saturday as the Wildcats tangle with Cal State Monterey Bay. Both games are scheduled to get underway at 7:30 p.m.
