TURLOCK — Built as a huge early-season showdown between two teams in the West Region Championship game, the team that gained momentum late in that contest back in March held the upper-hand Saturday night at Fitzpatrick Arena.
Chico State benefited from many dry-spill stretches by Cal State Stanislaus as the Wildcats defeated the Warriors, 59-47, in round one of this head-to-head rivary match-up. The Wildcats now move ahead atop of the CCAA standings, sharing the top spot with Sonoma State at 3-0 in conference play (6-2 overall).
Jordan Semple scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Chico State. The senior forward also had four blocked shots and two steals to help the Wildcats defense. Corey Silverstrom chipped in 12 points and Robert Duncan scored 10.
Chris Read led Stanislaus with 11 points and
Wes Bartole scored 10 points with seven rebounds as the Warriors dropped to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in league play.
Rob Walters had nine points and eight rebounds and
Tyler Barber scored nine first half points before sitting out the second half with a calf injury.
In the first five minutes of the game, it looked like the Warriors could run-away with the game — much like they did in the CCAA conference tournament title game against Chico State. Stanislaus took off to a 13-2 lead at 15:04 on a Barber three-pointer, but Chico State chipped away at the lead.
The scoring draughts started right after the Barber field goal as the Warriors did not connect on another bucket for the next five-plus minutes until Bartole made a layup at 7:59. By then, the lead was down to four points.
That would be the trend for the Warriors as they went on quiet spills. Their final field goal in the first half was at 3:50, which allowed Chico State to take-over the game, and the lead, for a 28-27 advantage at the break.
The stretches without a bucket in the second half became glaring. There was a four-plus minutes time with out a field goal early in the second half. After Walters regained the lead for the Warriors, at 39-38 with 11:14 to go, they go another three-plus minutes without a score. After a Read layup at 8:38, the Warriors went nearly seven minutes without a field goal. By then, Chico had built a 13-point lead.
In the end, the Warriors shot 34 percent (17-for-50) from the field and just 27.3 in the second half with just 20 points. They were also just 5 of 16 from the three-point arch.
