POMONA, Calif. - Cal Poly Pomona's suffocating defense hounded Chico State into a season-high 23 turnovers as the Broncos rolled past the Wildcats, 73-57, in a key California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) men's basketball tilt inside Kellogg Arena on Thursday night.

With a fifth-straight win, Cal Poly Pomona improved to 18-5 overall and 14-4 in the CCAA. Chico State, which began the day just a half game behind CPP in fourth, fell to 17-6 overall and 12-5 in league play.

Cal Poly Pomona remains in third, three games back of league-leading UC San Diego, which also won at home on Thursday, and half a game behind idle Cal State San Bernardino. The Broncos had already clinched a CCAA Tournament berth, with their magic number now down to one for the right to host a quarterfinal on Tuesday, March 3.

After the visitors notched the night's first two baskets, Justin Young scored the next four points, as he produced a nice individual post move for a dunk over his defender, and then took a nifty bounce pass down low from fellow fourth-year senior William Christmas for an easy lay-in at 17:27. The latter bucket pushed the San Diego product over the 500-point mark for his career, at 501.

Christmas tallied his team's next five on a three-pointer and tough jumper, as CPP took a slim 9-8 edge into the first media timeout.

The teams combined for seven turnovers and just three points, that from a Phoenix Shackelford triple, through the second media break at 11:52, with the Broncos now up by the score of 12-8.

The low-scoring period continued, as did the CPP run, as Christmas took a bounce pass from Riley Schaefer on the back cut and threw down a two-handed jam, Young split a pair of free throws, and Mason Dickerson knocked down a wide-open three-pointer from the left wing.

Chico State finally had to call its first timeout, down 18-8 with 7:51 to go and the Bronco run sitting at 9-0. The Wildcat scoring drought ended at 7:58 when Justin Briggs finally split his two free throws. It was in fact 9:13 between baskets when Calvin Geraci hit a triple at 6:15.

Cal Poly Pomona led by as many as 13 at 22-9 after back-to-back layups by Young and Christmas, and settled on a 29-20 advantage at the break following Shackelford's pull-up jumper from just inside the arc.

The sides remarkably combined for 26 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, with 17 of them committed by Chico State. The Wildcats came in averaging 12.3 miscues per game.

Christmas was a stat-sheet stuffer with his game-high 11 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, one steal and a blocked shot.

Six straight points, with four by junior BJ Standley around a driving layup by Shackelford, gave the Broncos their largest lead to that stage of 15, at 47-32, at the under-12 timeout of the second half with 11:43 left.

The run went to 7-0 and the bulge to 16 as Tavian Henderson made one of two free throws, and Chico State was again held scoreless for a significant period, this time at 3:16.

The Wildcats had to call another timeout at 3:48 after two great baskets in a row by the home side. Dickerson first came up with an acrobatic put-back of a missed Standley three, and then Shackelford found Young gliding uncontested to the hoop for an emphatic dunk, and a 64-50 lead.

The margin was ultimately never in single digits over the final 13:21.

Young finished with a career-high 16 points to lead all players, on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. Christmas collected 15 points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals and the one block. He had at least a share of the game high in boards, helpers, thefts and denials. Standley compiled 11 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals, while Dickerson wound up with eight points, making both of his attempts from long range. Schaefer added eight points, six boards, two assists, two steals and one block, with Shackelford chipping in nine points, two assists and a pair of steals.

Geraci and Kevin Warren scored 15 points apiece to pace Chico State.

Thursday's result meant a sweep of the season series for CPP, which never trailed during a 69-67 triumph in Chico back on Dec. 7. The Wildcats' previous season high in turnovers, of 18, occurred that night.

Cal Poly Pomona is idle Saturday and back on the road next week to conclude this tough late-season stretch of four games out of five away from home. The Broncos stay local, heading over to Carson to play Cal State Dominguez Hills a week from tonight at 7:30 p.m., ahead of a date with Cal State LA on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m. Both games can be watched on a pay-per-view basis on the CCAA Network.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona trotted out a new starting lineup of fourth-year seniors William Christmas, Nikhil Peters, Riley Schaefer and Justin Young, alongside junior BJ Standley ... It was a fifth different starting lineup this year for CPP ... Christmas was back among the starters after coming off the bench the last four contests, while junior Phoenix Shackelford did not start for the first time ... That leaves Peters and Schaefer as the lone Broncos who have started all 23 contests ... It was an 11th start for Standley ... Thursday's contest marked a 100th game played for Peters as a collegian ... Young scored in double digits for the 11th time in his career, with a previous high of 15 in an 85-67 home win over Humboldt State in the first round of last season's CCAA Tournament on March 5 ... CPP forced 20-plus turnovers for the eighth time this year ... The Broncos are 7-2 at home in 2019-20 ... Cal Poly Pomona began the day fourth in Division II in field goal percentage defense (39.3) and fifth in scoring defense (62.8), and posted marks Thursday of 41.2 and 57, respectively ... These teams had split their two meetings in each of the past two years, with both sides winning on the road last season ... CPP did not trail during its 69-67 victory in Chico on Dec. 7, and was only behind for 1:52 tonight ... Greg Kamansky is 412-164 (.715) over his career and 306-118 (.722) in CCAA play.