Box Score: Chico State 69, Sonoma State 65
CHICO, Calif- Down ten points with one minute remaining, the Sonoma State men's basketball team clawed its way to within three points on a three pointer by
Steven Pratt just 30 seconds later, but host Chico State held on to a narrow 69-65 victory over the Seawolves on Saturday night at Art Acker Gymnasium in Chico. SSU, who won its first conference game a night earlier, falls to 1-1 in CCAA play and 3-3 overall. The Wildcats improve to 5-1 and 2-1 in the CCAA.
The Seawolves and Wildcats traded points in the opening minutes of the game, but Chico State used its home court advantage and grabbed the lead for the remainder of the first half, muscling for its largest lead of eight points with 4:41 to go in the first half. The two teams would trade baskets and the Wildcats would host the 33-28 lead going into the locker room after the halftime buzzer.
Not letting the hosts pull away in the second half, Sonoma State would eventually snag the 38-37 lead at the 15 minute mark, however it would be the last lead that the Seawolves would see. The Wildcat lead would remain within six points of SSU, but Chico State finally pushed its lead up to 10 points on three different occasions, the last being at the 1:01 mark.
Don't count the Seawolves out of any game, though. Sonoma State went on a 8-1 run in 31 seconds to close the Chico State gap to just three points after Pratt's three ball. However, three made free thows in a 13 second span put the Chico lead back up to six points with ten seconds left.
Matthew French would convert on a layup with four seconds in regulation, but Chico would hold on for the 69-65 home victory in front of 977 fans at Acker Gym.
Pratt hit two three-pointers down the stretch to keep the Seawolves close and led the team with 15 points of 4-of-7 shooting.
Ben Washington and
James Sandoval chipped in with 12 points each, but it was Sandoval crashing the boards, corralling eight on the night. As a team, the Seawolves connected on 41 percent of their shots (25-61) while holding the Wildcats to a 46.8 mark (22-47).
Chico State had four players scoring in double figures, including a game-high from Jay Flores, who dropped in 20 points on the Seawolves, 12 of which came from three-point land.
Sonoma State will travel up to Arcata on Saturday (Dec. 11) to take on archrival Humboldt State for a rematch of last season's CCAA Tournament First Round, in which the Lumberjacks held off the Seawolves for a 72-68 win to end SSU's season. HSU suffered its first loss of the 2010-11 season at Cal State Stanislaus Saturday, falling to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the CCAA.
