SAN FRANCISCO – With 10 brand new players led by second-year Head Coach Greg Clink, the Chico State men’s basketball team is on a quest to take the program to the next level. Their journey began with an extraordinarily successful trip to “The Swamp” Friday night where they beat host San Francisco State 66-51. It was their largest margin of victory against a conference opponent since the 2006-07 season.

The Wildcats improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) behind a ferocious defense that has now held its opponents to an average of 59 points per game. San Francisco State fell to 5-2 overall and 0-1 in the CCAA. Chico State will head further south to face Cal State Monterey Bay, a 73-67 Friday against Cal State Stanislaus, Saturday at 7:30. They’ll book looking for their first win ever in the Kelp Bed.

Friday night, Jon Baird led the Wildcats with 14 points, Terence Pellum scored 13 and Damario Sims chipped in 10. But it certainly wasn’t Chico State’s offense that keyed the win. The Wildcats outrebounded their hosts 47-38. Twenty of those rebounds took place on the offensive end, which they converted into 14 points. They forced 20 turnovers and turned them into 17 points. And their bench outscored San Francisco State’s 23-11.

The freshman Sims, an Oakland native, led Chico State with seven rebounds in his first collegiate game in the Bay Area. Baird, Pellum and Roderick Hawkins pulled down six apiece, while Graves and true freshman Jason Conrad grabbed five each. Graves, Hawkins, and point guard Jay Flores also contributed seven points apiece.

BOX SCORE