Box score | Chico State postgame | Alaska postgame

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The Chico State Wildcats are heading to the Elite Eight after earning a 70-52 victory over Alaska in the NCAA Division II West Region Championship.
 
2021-22 D2CCA West Region Player of the Year, Malik Duffy, led the way with 21 points and eight rebounds. He was as 8-for-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from behind the arc. Kevin Warren added 12 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Regional MVP, Colby Orr, came off the bench to score 12 points, grab four rebounds, dish out three assists, and make two steals. Coleman Sparling led Alaska with 13 points.
 
The Wildcats' defense was the story of the night, both what they did to the Nanooks as a team and against their star player Shadeed Shabazz. Chico State limited Alaska to .259 percent shooting in the first half and just .339 percent in the game. Meanwhile, the Wildcats connected on .466 percent of their shots and went 11-of-20 from 3-point range.
 
The trio of Joshua Hamilton, Kevin Warren, and Colby Orr also took on the task of guarding Shabazz, who was averaging 31.5 points per game in the regional. They limited the Nanooks' shooting guard to only six points on 2-of-16 shooting. Altogether, the trio of Koby Huerta, Abdullahi Mohamed, and Shabazz, which had combined to score 68 points in the semifinal win over Azusa Pacific, was held to just 20 points on 7-of-37 shooting.
 
"This was the best defensive team we played all year," said Alaska's Coleman Sparling in the postgame interview. "They forced (those shots). Hats off to them."
 
After going up 9-4 to start the game, Chico State was given a bit of a scare as the Nanooks rattled off 15 straight points to go on top 19-9. The Wildcats immediately responded with a 14-0 run to retake the lead at 23-19, and they would never again trail in the game. They would extend their run out to 24-4 to take a 33-23 lead at the half.
 
Both teams came back locked in on defense in the second half, and only two points were scored in the first four minutes. When things started to open up, it was the Wildcats that found their shot and went on another run to take their biggest lead of the game at 50-32 on a 3-pointer by Duffy with 11:43 remaining. Alaska would never get the deficit below 15 points the rest of the way.
 
Chico State will advance to the Elite Eight on March 22-26 in Evansville, Ind. This marks the program's third West Regional Championship.