After a difficult road trip, traveling through a storm to play Chico State and CSU Stanislaus, the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team faces two tough California Collegiate Athletic Association rivals at home this weekend — The Sonoma State Seawolves (6-4 overall and 2-2 in CCAA) on Friday and Humboldt State Lumberjacks (8-3 overall and 3-1 in CCAA) on Saturday.
The Otters dropped both road games last week, falling to Chico 83-71 on Friday and Stanislaus 78-76 on Saturday. That leaves the men's team 1-9 overall and 0-4 in conference play. #Augie Johnston# is leading CSUMB in points with 17.5 per game. Two other Otters are averaging double figures: #DShon Cannon# (13.9) and, #Joe Mitchell# (13.8). In addition to his points, Mitchell is also averaging 10 rebounds a game to lead the team.
Johnston and Cannon are both moving up the charts in CSUMB's record book. Cannon is averaging 4.2 assists a game this season, right in line with his career averaging of 4.5, the best mark ever at CSUMB. He recorded his 300th career assist on Saturday, which is also tops in CSUMB history. Cannon ranks sixth in career scoring with 668. Johnston ranks seventh with 619. A lot of those points have come from the three-point line, where Johnston's career total of 205 ranks him fourth in team history. This year he has made 24 of 54 from beyond the arc.
The Sonoma State Seawolves on Friday and Humboldt State Lumberjacks on Saturday. Sonoma State (6-4 overall and 2-2 in CCAA) beat HSU 66-51 last Thursday, but Humboldt (8-3 overall and 3-1 in CCAA) still leads the conference.
Sonoma State is 2-4 on the road and is returning just one of its top six scorers from last season, Andrew Kochevar. In fact, Kochevar is the only returner who averaged more than five points per game in '06-'07. This season the 6-2 guard is averaging 17.2 points a game and shooting 49.5 percent from the floor and is one of just two players on the team, along with backcourt mate Ben Washington, that have started every game. Most of Kochevar's points have been scored from three-point land, where he is shooting 46.9 percent. Of Kochevar's 105 shots, 64 have been taken from beyond the arc.
Washington, a sophomore, is averaging 12.6 points a game, the only other player in double figures besides Kochevar. The 6-2 point guard is averaging 3.1 assists and 3.1 turnovers each game. Up front, freshman 6-7 forward Blake Saunders and 6-9 junior center Steve Cornett lead the way for Sonoma. Cornett leads the team in rebounding with 5.5 a game. Saunders, who has started seven games, is the nephew of Detroit Pistons head coach Flip Saunders. He is the team's second leading rebounder with 5.2 boards a game and is third on the team in scoring with 6.8 points per game.
The Seawolves were ranked fifth in the pre-season CCAA Coaches Poll. As a team, the Seawolves are scoring 68.6 a game and allowing 65.1, while shooting a much higher percentage than their competition — 47.5 percent to 43.4. They are also outrebounding the competition 33.2 o 29.9, but do have a -2.4 turnover margin.
Over the past three seasons, the Seawolves are 49-31 and are one of only two teams, along with Cal Poly Pomona, to finish in the top four of the CCAA all three years. In 2005-06, won the CCAA championship with a 16-4 conference record. Coach Pat Fuscado is coaching his 14th season at the school his 195 victories are the most in school history.
At Humboldt State, Coach Tom Woods has been at the helm for 27 years and has 383 wins. His Lumberjack crew is new to the CCAA this season but has been chopping up the competition, outscoring opponents 76.5 to 69.5 while shooting a slightly lower percentage than its competition — 45.9 to 46.4 percent. They make up the difference with a slight rebound advantage (1.6 per game) and better turnover margin (4.1).
The Lumberjacks are led by their leading scorer, 6-4 forward Devin Peal who is averaging 17.2 points per game while hitting 58.8 percent of his shots. He was scheduled for surgery this week to reattach a damaged ligament in his thumb, but he scored 22 points against UC San Diego last week with his hand heavily taped up. Surgery has been cancelled and coach Woods jokingly said he “would hide him somewhere,” if doctors wanted to operate now.
The Lumberjacks will also lean on three other players who are averaging double figures: 6-5 guard Grayson Moyer (15.1), 6-2 guard Will Sheufelt (13.0) and 6-9 center Cy Vandermeer (11). Vandermeer is averaging 8.1 rebounds per game. Peal grabs six boards a game. Grayson is third on the team with 4.5. The team's most prolific outside shooter is 5-10 guard Ernie Spada with 5.3 three-point attempts per game and he is making 34.5 percent of those. Spada has only taken 16 shots this season from inside the arc. Moyer is the most accurate from the outside, having made 17 of his 35 attempts from beyond the arc. Scheufelt, the point guard, is shooting just 29.8 percent from that range.
Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m. at the Otter Sports Center.
