SAN BERNARDINO – The Chico State men's basketball team spent the entire second half playing catchup after trailing Cal State East Bay by a dozen points. Despite the effort, Chico State was unable to recover from the Pioneers' 3-point shooting and dominance in rebounding in the opening period as the Wildcats fell 84-76 in the opening round of the CCAA Tournament at Coussoulis Arena Thursday evening.
 
The Wildcats bow out of the conference tournament 20-8 overall and will now wait Sunday to see if their name will be called on the NCAA Regional Selection Show. The Selection Show will begin at 8 p.m. Pacific Time and can be seen on NCAA.com. The Wildcats entered the conference tournament at No. 5 in the latest NCAA West Regional poll.
 
East Bay (19-10), which was on the outside looking in at No. 10 in the West, played with desperation. In the first half, the Pioneers went 9-for-15 from the 3-point line and dominated the glass, 25-13. Dimitrios Klonaras and Tyree Campbell couldn't be stopped as the duo combined for 32 points with seven 3-pointers made.
 
Down 49-37 at the start of the second half, the Wildcats did make a change to how they played the Pioneers. They outrebounded the Pioneers, 26-17, while watching them go 1-for-7 from the distance. Miles Daniels came up clutch in the second half by scoring 14 points.
 
After a hard-fought battle, Chico State shrunk the deficit to 77-74 with 1:40 remaining in the game. East Bay survived the threat by making five of its free throws while capitalizing on two costly turnovers by the Wildcats.
 
Chico State finished the night shooting 41.4 percent (24-for-58) from the field while going 20-for-28 on the free throw line. Daniels led the effort for the Wildcats by scoring 17 points, Evan Oliver had 14 points off the bench while Jojo Murphy and Isaiah Kerr both had 11.
 
The Pioneers closed out the game shooting 42.2 percent (27-for-64) in field goals while going 10-for-22 from the 3-point range.