ROHNERT PARK, Calif- After an early season overtime loss to Chico State on the road, Sonoma State turned the tables with a 71-62 overtime win over the Wildcats on Friday night in Rohnert Park. The Seawolves improve to 10-12, 6-9 CCAA and, with Cal State L.A.'s loss, move into sole possession of eight place in the CCAA. The Wildcats drop to 6-16, 3-12 CCAA.
The Wildcats took the early lead, going up by seven in the first four minutes of action. After pushing the lead to as many as nine at 19-10, the 'Cats were reeled in with the Seawolves using a 9-2 stretch to end the half up three (27-24).
Both teams had leads in the second half, but the margin never rose above six in any direction. Chico went up by four with 1:37 left on an Andy Bocian three-pointer, putting doubt into the minds of the Seawolf faithful. However a missed jumper by Chico and four made free throws out of the hands of
Ben Washington and
Steven Pratt knotted the game at 56 with 16 seconds left. Bocian missed a three-pointer right before the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
The Seawolves struggled from the free throw line all night, connecting on just 26-of-46 attempts (.565). However, they were able to deliver when they counted most, in overtime, as the Seawolves nailed 11-of-14 in the extra frame. In fact, 11 of the 15 points the Seawolves would score in the second half came from the free throw line, where they had a vast advantage over the Wildcats. Chico was just 6-of-10 from the charity stripe in the game.
Pratt led the Seawolves with 16 points, ten of those coming on his eleven free throw attempts.
Kyle Shandera also delivered a nice peformance, finishing with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Keith Garner (13) and
Duane Wright (10) were also in double digits.
The Wildcats got 16 points from Justin Argenal and 15 from Andy Bocian in the loss, though both would foul out before the end of the game. In all, four Wildcats were fouled out as the team committed 30 personal fouls on the night. Roderick Hawkins had game-high honors with ten rebounds.
The Seawolves return to action on Saturday night when they host Cal State Stanislaus.
Box Score
