Coming off their seventh straight win on Thursday night, the Wildcats closed the regular season on a high note, cruising past the Cal State San Marcos Cougars 87-60 Saturday afternoon. The season finale honored four seniors for their contributions to Chico State: Trae Taylor, Miles Daniels, Max Walters and Hugo Clarkin.
Taylor’s torrid play continued after his 32-point career night on Thursday, as he recorded a double-double with 27 points and 11 rebounds, featuring five offensive rebounds. Over the past four contests, Taylor has averaged 23.8 ppg shooting 33-of-40 from the floor and 29-of-35 from the free-throw line.
“Going in the playoffs, I’ve just been thinking I gotta exhaust myself and put as much work as possible and to try to help the team win,” Taylor said. “So I think just going out there every morning, putting in the work, and it’s finally showing.”
Junior Guard Jojo Murphy finished the season as the CCAA leading scorer with a scoring average of 20.4 ppg and added 21 points versus the Cougars by shooting an efficient 5-of-9 from the three-point line.
The Wildcats kept a consistent lead throughout the first half, but struggled shooting the ball, going 3-of-13 from beyond the arc in the first half. Coming out of the break they exploded offensively and blew the game wide open by making their first four threes of the second half.
“In the second half, we didn’t call any plays,” Murphy said. “We just did four out passes and cuts through the middle and just waited for the right opportunity to drive.”
Saturday’s victory cemented Chico’s dominant 13-1 record at Acker Gymnasium, where they lead the conference in attendance, averaging 574 fans per game – 161 more than their closest competitor.
“It just comes to show what type of community Chico is and how supportive, the boosters, people that live here, and the people that go to school are”, Murphy said. “They’re all supporting the same cause and are just active in the community.”
The Wildcats’ second-place finish in the conference was their best since the 2021-2022 season, finishing only one game back from Cal State Dominguez Hills for the title. Despite coming in second place, the finish gives them a first-round bye in the CCAA Championships where they will face the winner of Cal State San Bernardino versus Cal State LA. The semi-final will take place at The Sports Center in San Marcos on March 7 at noon.
If the Wildcats can win the semi-final, they’ll take on one of three teams, Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly Humboldt or Cal Poly Pomona for the championships on March 8 at 5 p.m.
Winning the Championships will be an uphill battle for the Wildcats as they’ll have to face a strong opponent no matter how the rest of the bracket shakes out.
“It’s the elite, it’s playoff basketball. It’s gritty. It’s physical. If you want to win, you gotta dig down and scratch it out,” said Murphy.
For information about all Chico State athletics or to keep up with the game live, visit the Wildcat home page, or watch through FloSports.
JJ Fain can be reached at [email protected].
