CSUDH Bends But Doesn't Break in 73-60 Win Over Chico State on Senior Night

Box Score

Carson, CA -- Visiting Chico State gave Cal State Dominguez Hills everything it could handle and then some, but the Toros, behind 23 points from Michael Hernandez and 19 points from Jerrell Smith, withstood a competitive Wildcat team playing for pride as the senior duo led the Toros to a 73-60 win to keep their place atop the CCAA secure.

With flashbacks of last season's regular season finale in which the Wildcats upset the Toros and knocked them from a probable berth in the NCAA West Region lingering, Chico State kept things close at the start, taking a 7-6 lead at the 16:07 mark, and then a 20-18 edge on a Chris Sharp trey with just over six minutes left in the half.

The Toros, however, buckled down as time wound down in the first session, out-scoring the visitors 13-4 to take a 31-27 lead into the break.

After intermission, CSUDH built its first double-figure lead of the contest at 40-30 with five minutes elapsed, before a Roderick Hawkins tip-in and Josh Jackson trey brought CSUC to within 40-35.

The Wildcats played the Toros even the rest of the half, cutting their deficit to four points on three separate occasions, the final time at 5:45 on a pair of Jackson foul shots.

Again buckling down on its trademark defense, however, the Toros pressured the Wildcats into six second half turnovers and just 38.5% shooting in again pushing their lead to double-figures at 64-54 with just 1:35 left in regulation, where the lead would hover before CSUDH settled for the 13-point win on, fittingly, two more successful Hernandez foul shots to close the scoring.

In addition to Hernandez's and Smith's outputs, fellow seniors Rodney Yearby and Jonathan Toliver chipped in with nine boards each, while Ryan Walton tallied 8 points and 5 boards as those five seniors bade a fond farewell in their final regular season game in the Torodome.

CSUDH, now 20-5, 14-4 CCAA, closes its regular season scheduled on the road next weekend at Sonoma State and Humboldt State, needing one win to secure at least a share of the conference regular season title, a feat it last accomplished in 1986-87.

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