Stephen Becker was one of the seniors honored Thursday night.
SEASIDE --- Cal State Monterey Bay took one step closer to securing a home postseason game Thursday night, defeating visiting UC San Diego 84-66 to finish the regular season with an 11-9 record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The victory completes a remarkable season for the CSUMB men's basketball team. The Otters started conference play 1-7 before winning 10 of 12 the rest of the way to finish with a berth in the postseason tournament. CSUMB could finish as high as third in the CCAA when the rest of the teams complete their seasons Friday night.
CSUMB jumped out to a 10-2 lead against the Tritons and led 42-29 at the half. UCSD opened the second half with a 9-3 run to get within 10, at 45-38, and later pulled within a bucket at 55-53 at the 10-minute mark. But a #Juston Willis# trey put the Otters back ahead by five. That three-pointer was the beginning of 18-2 run that ended with CSUMB ahead 73-55 with 3:54 left in the game. From there, CSUMB coasted to victory.
It was senior night and Willis, a senior, led all scorers with 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting. #DShon Cannon#, also a senior, scored 17 and made 7 of 10 from the floor. #Steve Monreal# scored 18 and made 6 of 11. Joe Mitchell led CSUMB in rebounds with 11.
“This season has been probably the most special I've been involved with,” said CSUMB head coach Pat Kosta. “What you see now is a product of all the hard work when things were going bad.”
What lies ahead
[View CCAA standings]
Thursday's games left CSUMB's playoff picture just about as pixelated as it previously was, which means the Otters still have a shot at hosting a home game on Tuesday night. A pair of three throws with two seconds left gave Sonoma State (7-12) a 64-63 victory over Cal Poly Pomona (10-9). CSU Dominguez Hills easily defeated Cal State Stanislaus (5-14) 88-79. CSU Los Angeles beat Chico State (2-17) 93-72 and is currently tied for sixth, but holds a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Otters. Humboldt State (14-5) enjoyed a 65-61 home victory over CSU San Bernardino (14-5).
San Francisco State (10-9) will be at home tonight against UC San Diego (11-8). CSU Dominguez Hills (11-8) will play Chico State (2-17). CSULA (10-9) will finish its two-game road trip at CSU Stanislaus and Cal Poly Pomona faces a tough road game against HSU.
Most likely scenarios begin with the premise that Dominguez Hills will beat Chico and Pomona will not overcome an HSU team fighting to keep first place from San Bernardino. That leaves the Toros 12-8 and Cal Poly Pomona 10-10.
Then, if Stanislaus can upset the Golden Eagles, it would leave Los Angeles at 10-10. If San Francisco then defeated UC San Diego, the result would be a three-way between San Francisco, San Diego and CSUMB for the fourth seed and home court for the first postseason game. The Otters win that tiebreaker. They won't however, win any tiebreaker against CSULA, which beat them twice and defeated the next-highest seeded opponent twice, which would appear to be Dominguez Hills.
So there is the playoff picture, a wonder to behold because one can really only wonder where the Otters will end up. A good guess would be a fifth or sixth seed, which would likely mean a trip to Southern California to play CSU Los Angeles or Dominguez Hills. But tonight, Otters fans everywhere will be rooting for the Lumberjacks, the Warriors and the Gators --- and home court advantage for Cal State Monterey Bay on Tuesday.
Official Basketball Box Score
Official Basketball Box Score
UC San Diego vs CSU Monterey Bay
02/28/08 7:30pm at Seaside, CA [Otter Sports Center]
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VISITORS: UC San Diego 15-10, 11-8 CCAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 KIM, Kelvin......... * 1-3 1-3 2-4 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 25
12 LAWLEY, Jordan...... * 8-14 0-3 2-2 1 4 5 2 18 1 1 1 0 15
21 LAWLOR, Darryl...... * 0-3 0-3 3-4 2 5 7 5 3 1 1 0 0 16
32 ALLARD, Clint....... * 3-8 1-4 1-2 0 3 3 1 8 2 1 0 2 17
35 PATTERSON, Henry.... * 4-7 0-0 4-7 3 4 7 2 12 2 1 0 1 15
10 HUSTED, Alan........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 1 1 0 0 8
14 HATCH, Andrew....... 4-10 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 9 1 4 0 0 16
24 POPPEN, Shane....... 2-3 0-0 4-4 2 3 5 2 8 0 2 0 0 15
33 DREITH, Patrick..... 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
34 BROWNING, Andrew.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................
Totals.............. 23-51 3-14 17-25 11 20 31 15 66 9 11 1 3 131
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-25 48.0% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 45.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 21.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 11-16 68.8% Game: 68.0% 4
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HOME TEAM: CSU Monterey Bay 12-14, 11-9 CCAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 WILLIS, Juston...... * 10-15 2-3 2-4 1 3 4 4 24 3 2 0 2 14
10 CANNON, D'Shon...... * 7-10 1-2 2-3 2 5 7 0 17 3 2 0 1 20
11 BECKER, Stephen..... * 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 12
32 JOHNSTON, Augie..... * 4-6 3-5 1-1 0 3 3 2 12 1 0 0 0 18
33 MITCHELL, Joe....... * 0-3 0-0 5-6 6 5 11 4 5 1 1 0 0 24
02 HOUSTON, Ron........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
21 MONREAL, Steve...... 6-11 2-3 4-5 3 5 8 2 18 1 1 1 2 18
22 KERNODLE, Jacob..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 11
31 SANCHEZ, Jose....... 3-6 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 3 8 0 2 1 1 12
TEAM................
Totals.............. 30-54 10-19 14-19 12 23 35 19 84 9 8 2 6 130
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6% 2nd Half: 15-26 57.7% Game: 55.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-13 46.2% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 52.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-6 100 % 2nd Half: 8-13 61.5% Game: 73.7% 0,1
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Officials: Alan Pierce, Bret Silveira, Kevin Long
Technical fouls: UC San Diego-None. CSU Monterey Bay-None.
Attendance: 350
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
UC San Diego.................. 31 35 - 66
CSU Monterey Bay.............. 42 42 - 84
