TURLOCK — After spending three extra hours in vans, stuck in traffic, the Chico State Wildcats appearently needed extra time to warm-up. Once they did, they shot the lights out as Chico State blew past Stanislaus State, 84-69, in a rare non-conference game between rivals Wednesday night.

The first 10 minutes of the game was all Stanislaus State but Chico State kept shooting and eventually improved its record to 8-1 on the season while lowering the Warriors' to 3-4.

Christian Bayne, with 14 in the second half, finished with 16 points. Kyi Thomas, who was hit his first three shots for nine points, ended up with 15 (4-for-7). Kyle Gouveia chipped in 12 points, many of them second-chance scores or offensive-rebound put-backs. Richard Medina led the team with seven rebounds.

Once the game tipped-off, 55 minutes late, the Warriors were hot early and had a 21-7 lead at the 10:11 mark with great passing and shooting while defending the slower Chico State team. An early 12-0 run that was started by consecutive Thomas three-pointers lifted the Warriors to a 17-4 lead at 13:30. The run was capped by a Joey Bennett's layup which gave Stan State a 6-for-9 shooting start.

But Chico State chipped away after a 2-for-13 shooting start. A 6-2 run and a 7-0 run pulled them within five. Then a 7-0 run tied the score at 30-30 and the Cats didn't stop there. During a four-plus minute stretch from the end of the half to start of the second, the Wildcats had scored 14 unanswered points to take a seven-point lead.

Robert Duncan and his teammates became sharp shooters, especially in the second half, hitting 70 percent of their shots to out-gun Stanislaus, 52-39.

Duncan scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including 4-for-4 from the three-point arch. Duncan also had eight rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots.. Three other Wildcats — Drew Kitchens (15), Jalen McFerren (114) and Tanner Giddings (13) — also scored in double-digits. 

Chico State was 10-for-17 (58.8 percent) from long range and slightly out-rebounded the Warriors, 31-29.

The Wildcats arrived on the Stan State campus nearly three hours late due to a freeway closure on Highway 99 near Elk Grove due to an accident. The game start time was adjusted to 7:55 p.m. once the visiting team arrived in the Fitzpatrick Arena about 10 minutes before 7 p.m., which was the original start time.

The Warriors will resume conference play action on Friday when they travel to Seaside to take on Cal State Monterey Bay.