BOX SCORE

BELMONT, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team will refer to Saturday's game at Notre Dame de Namur as the one that got away. The Otters couldn't hold a late eight–point lead before NDNU scored on a tip–in with 0.4 seconds left on the clock to seal a 71–70 win at Gleason Gym.

The Otters saw their chance at a last second game–winner of their own suffer a fatal blow when the clock operator started the clock while Otters were running a trick inbound play--but before they actually inbounded the ball. CSUMB's subsequent shot didn't count because the horn sounded prematurely.

The officials saw the obvious error and gave CSUMB another chance to inbound. With their trick play intentions now exposed, however, they had to run a vanilla play and the desperation heave at the buzzer didn't come close.

Give NDNU credit for coming from behind twice. The Otters raced to a 12–2 lead to start the game before the Argonauts clawed their way back to take a 36–35 lead on an eerily prescient layup in the last second of the half.

NDNU opened the second half on a 6–0 run that gave the Argonauts their biggest lead at 42–35. This time, the Otters responded with a gradual run of their own, out scoring NDNU by 15 points over the ensuing 11 minutes to take their biggest lead of the second half at 64–56 inside of seven minutes to play.

Once again, the Argonauts chipped away at the Otter lead until CSUMB held the ball up just 70–69 with 46 ticks left. The Otters ran the clock all the way down but never got to running a play and a three–point attempt as the shot clock expired didn't draw iron, giving NDNU the ball with nine seconds remaining.

Eric Bell took the ball for NDNU and drove the lane, where his short jumper came off the front of the rim. But Tyler Fricke was there for the tip in to set up the wild finish.

Junior forward Derrick Anderson (Pittsburg HS) led the Otters for the third time this season, finishing with 17 points. Junior Geoff McIntosh (Gig Harbor, Wash./No. Oklahoma) added a season–high 14 points. Fricke led five NDNU players in double figures with 18 points.

CSUMB (2–4 overall) will take a week off for final exams before hosting Cal State L.A. Sunday, Dec. 18, in The Kelp Bed. Tip–off will be at 3 p.m. as the second game of a men's/women's doubleheader.