ROHNERT PARK -- Three Sonoma State men's basketball players scored in double-figures, including a game-high 18 points from
Jimmy Golden, in a dominating 66-50 win over 20th-ranked Chico State in front of a raucous sellout crowd on Friday night in the Grand Re-Opening of The Wolves' Den. The 2,080 fans in attendance sparked an emotionally-charged victory that featured excellent shooting and stout defense.
The Seawolves improve to 14-5 on the year and 10-3 in conference play, while the Wildcats fall to 18-4 overall and 11-3 in the conference. Sonoma now finds themselves in a tie for third place with San Francisco State, and only a half-game back of Chico State and UC San Diego for first place in the conference standings.
Emotions were running and the intensity in the Wolves' den were high from the very beginning Friday night, as both the team and fans were both anxious to return to the home floor. It was the first time the Seawolves were able to play in their home gym since November 19th, and the team brought their A game in their return. However, Chico State had other plans and got off to an early 6-2 lead in the first two minutes. Still early in the game, the Seawolves were able to keep the game close and captured their first lead of the night after Golden threw the rock down emphatically to make the score 9-8, bringing the sold out crowd of 2,080 to their feet. With the crowd behind them, the Seawolves were able to go on a 10-0 run and found themselves in front 19-11 with 9:32 left in the opening half. Sonoma would go on to increase the lead to as many as ten in the half, before heading into halftime with a 25-17 lead.
When the halftime festivities were over and the second half began, the Seawolves were able to maintain the momentum they gathered to open the game. Sonoma opened the second half going on a 10-3 run and increasing their lead to 35-20 in the first five minutes. Chico State was able to inch their way back into the game and after going on a 10-2 run of their own, the Wildcats found themselves only trailing 37-44. The Seawolves were able to regain momentum after Nicolis made an incredible layup in traffic, and drew the foul. After completing the three-point play the Seawolves were up 50-37 with 5:34 remaining, and the home crowd was electric.
The Seawolves would carry the momentum the rest of the way behind some stellar highlight worthy plays.
Khalid Johnson used his quick hands to steal an inbound pass and proceeded to make a layup to make the score 56-41 with 4:29 left in the game. Then Nicolis made another acrobatic shot and drew the foul to make it 58-41 with 3:51 left. About thirty seconds later,
Luke Cochran, who had 15 points in the game, threw down a thunderous dunk to increase the lead to 60-44 with only 3:32 to go. Sonoma then gathered their largest lead of the night with 1:47 to go, and found themselves leading 66-46, before ultimately winning 66-50.
When the final buzzer went off, the Seawolves finished the night going 26 for 51 from the floor, good enough for 51 percent. They were able to accumulate this by dominating inside, as they only shot 2 for 11 (28.6 percent) from three-point range and 12 for 21 from the charity stripe, or 57.1 percent. In addition to Golden's game-high 18 points, Cochran had 15 points of his own, and Nicolis was not far behind with 14.
Another key factor in Friday night's victory, which has been a large part of the Seawolves success all season long, was their number one ranked defense. The nation's number one ranked defense held the Wildcats to a whopping 28.6 percent shooting from the floor, only allowing them to connect on 14 of their 49 shots. The defense also forced 16 turnovers, while Sonoma only committed 12 of their own. The defense also collected eight blocks as a whole. Cochran had a game-high three blocks and
Nathan Molony-Benjamin had two of his own.
The Seawolves will be back in action from the Wolves' Den once again on Saturday night, as they take on Stanislaus State at 7:30PM.
