CHICO – The Chico State men’s basketball team had no intentions of duplicating its 40-point performance last Saturday against Dominguez Hills, and against Cal State Monterey Bay Friday the Wildcats were all business early, roaring out to a 20-8 first half lead. But though they had the upper hand on the scoreboard for most of the game, the ’Cats were unable to sustain their offensive attack, scoring just 11 points in the last nine minutes, and the visiting Otters used a 12-5 run in the final 3:50 to post a come-from-behind 61-58 victory in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) action at Acker Gym.
The loss – Chico State’s second straight and fifth in the last six games – dropped the Wildcats to 10-7 on the season and 6-6 in the CCAA. Cal State Monterey Bay snapped a three game losing streak to improve to 6-11 overall and 4-8 in conference play.
After spotting the Otters the game’s opening basket, Chico State reeled off 11 of the next 13 points – Roderick Hawkins scoring the final five of the run with a tip-in and a 3-point bucket to put the Wildcats up 11-4. Damario Sims then got into the offensive swing, connecting for a 3-pointer and delivering a slam dunk to key a 9-4 run that gave Chico State a 20-8 advantage. Monterey Bay slowly chipped away at the deficit, eventually cutting the Wildcats’ lead to two with 2:55 left in the period. Hawkins and Nick Lonnegren provided Chico State with a pair of late baskets to push the lead back to five; the Wildcats eventually settling for a 30-27 halftime lead.
The Otters continued to hang around in the second half, whittling the deficit to three on three different occasions, but with 6:18 to go, Chico State had pushed the lead back up to seven, as Jon Baird’s 3-pointer put the Wildcats up 51-44. But from there the ’Cats found the points hard to come by, missing six of their next seven shots and committing three turnovers…meanwhile, Cal State Monterey Bay used 3-pointers by Ian Hosford and Davion Berry to highlight a 16-3 run and take a 60-54 lead with just 27 seconds left to play. Sims sliced the deficit in half with a long 3-pointer, and after Derrick Anderson converted one of two free throws on the Otters’ end to give Monterey Bay a four point lead, Chico State’s Terence Pellum was fouled with two seconds remaining. Pellum sank the first charity toss, then intentionally missed the second; the Wildcats tipped the rebound past the 3-point line, but Baird’s try at a game-tying trey fell short, and the Otters escaped with the 61-58 victory to avenge last December’s early season loss to Chico State.
Hawkins led four Wildcats in double figures with 13 points and snared nine rebounds; Sims scored 12 off the bench while Pellum and Zach Graves added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Warren Freeman led the victorious Otters with 15 points, with Berry contributing 13…Hosford finished the night with a game-high 11 rebounds.
BOX SCORE
Chico State will try to get back on the winning track Saturday as it takes on San Francisco State; the Gators (13-7 overall, 6-6 in the CCAA) were beaten in Turlock Friday 63-59 by Cal State Stanislaus. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.; Mike Baca will provide the play-by-play action on ESPN 101.7 FM locally and on the Internet via the Wildcat Athletics website.
