Box Score CHICO, Calif. - Chico State reeled off a 20-0 run in the second half as it was able to rally to defeat Alaska men's basketball 84-73 at the Carl's Jr. Mac Martin Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Acker Gymnasium.
A pair of Wildcats posted double-doubles as Amir Carraway had a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and Sean Park tallied 12 points and a game-high 13 boards. Damario Sims also scored in double figures with 13 points.
Alaska was led by junior guard
Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/College of the Redwoods), who scored a team-high 19 points, while senior guard
Jarrett Miller (North Pole, Alaska/West Hills CC) and sophomore forward
Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Panola College) each had 15 points, respectively.
“Dominique, Stefan and Jarrett have all been showing the capability of scoring for us,” head coach
Mick Durham said. “I was a little disappointed our big guys didn't score. It was very physical inside and they kept rotating bodies on them.”
Trailing 47-42 with 15:43 to play, the Wildcats (1-0) put together 20 straight points over a span of 5:29 to grab a 62-47 lead. The Nanooks went 6:22 without a point, but they didn't quit as they put together a nice little run of their own. A 14-4 run got UA to within five at 66-61 with just under seven minutes to go.
“[Chico State] really turned up its aggressiveness, especially on the offensive glass,” Durham said. “They wore us down, but we hung in there and battled back a couple times. You have to credit Chico, they run bodies after bodies at you and they were definitely bigger than us.”
CSUC scored eight of the game's next 10 points, however, to boost its lead by to double digits at 74-63 with four to play. Alaska never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
Both teams shot similar numbers from the floor as the Wildcats were 40.9-percent (27-66 FG) to the Nanooks' 39.1-percent (27-69 FG), but the difference was rebounding as Chico held a commanding 55-32 advantage including 21-10 on the offensive glass. It also got to the free throw line more, as it made 22 of 27 after not getting there in the first half.
Chico opened the game with a 10-0 run over the first 2:44, but Alaska responded with eight straight to cut the lead to 10-8 with 14:37 to play in the first. The Wildcats led 31-26 with just over three minutes before halftime, but the 'Nooks got the last six points of the half for a 32-31 lead into the locker room.
Alaska stretched the lead five on three different occasions early in the second half before Chico reeled off its big run to take control of the game.
The Nanooks return to action tomorrow morning when they play San Francisco State at 11:30 a.m. in Chico.
