FULL NOTEBOOK IN PDF FORMAT



SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team will open the 2012 calender year with a visit to San Francisco State Thursday (Jan. 5). The Otters will be looking to pick up their first road win of the season in The Swamp.

Tipoff will be a 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of men's/women's doubleheader action. If you can't make the game, be sure to listen live on KRXA 540 AM or online at www.OtterAthletics.com.

SCOUTING THE GATORS: San Francisco State opened the season with a 32–point win over Academy of Art (93–61) and posted a Thanksgiving weekend win over NCAA Division I member Jacksonville State (71–68), but there hasn't been much to smile about for the Gators past that. SFSU enters Thursday's game having lost four straight and nine of 10. Nefi Perdomo and Cal State Bakersfield transfer James Albright top the Gator scoring chart at 14.4 and 14.2 points per game respectively. Griffin Reilly is SFSU's top rebounder at 5.7 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Nefi Perdomo scored 27 points for SFSU to more than offset a 25–point night from Davion Berry as the Gators rolled to an 81–58 win at The Swamp on Jan. 4, 2011. SFSU opened the game with an 11–0 run and CSUMB never got closer that three points the rest of the way.

ABOUT LAST WEEK: Cal State East Bay started each half with big runs (14–0 in the first half and 9–0 in the second), before the Otters mounted an epic comeback. CSUMB overcame a 19–point deficit in the final 17 minutes to pull ahead late, only to fall 91–87 in the final game of 2011. The Otters got 21 points from Brandon Ward (Riverside/Woodcrest HS), 19 from Derrick Anderson (Pittsburg HS) and a career–high 16 from James Albert (San Bernardino/Aquinas HS).

BOMBS AWAY: Last week's 87–point outburst at Cal State East Bay marked the most points the Otters have scored in a game since a 98–90 win at Sonoma State on Jan. 15, 2011, a span of 21 games. The 87 points are the fourth–most scored by the Otters in the Rob Bishop era (see list on p. 3 for the top five).

ON THE FLIP SIDE: On the flip side of that previous note, the 91 points scored by East Bay were the second most scored by an NCAA Division II opponent against the normally stalwart Otter defense in the Rob Bishop era. They were the most allowed by the Otters since Cal State San Bernardino scored 95 points on Feb. 26, 2010.

LENDING A HAND: Although his three–game starting streak snapped against Cal State Dominguez Hills, freshman guard Jalen Headspeth (Oakland HS) has really lent a hand since making his first start on Dec. 3. He is averaging 4.4 assists per game over that span.

TENACIOUS D: Don't blame the Otter defense for the result against Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Otters forced a school opponent record 28 turnovers in that game. The previous record was 27 forced turnovers at Cal State L.A. on Feb. 23, 2008.

GOOD DEFENSE NOT ENOUGH: The Otters dropped two games to their L.A. area rivals despite holding Cal State L.A. (62) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (63) to the lowest Otter opponent scores of the season. Those are the top two marks in the last 15 games. In fact, one has to go all the way back to a 52–51 to Cal Poly Pomona loss on Jan. 23, 2010 to find the last time CSUMB gave up 63 or fewer points and lost. That's a span of 46 games.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE O: The Otters enter Thursday's game at San Francisco State averaging 69.2 points per game. That would rank as the No. 6 season in CSUMB history (83.2 in 2007). The Otter field goal percentage of .468 would rank No. 3 all–time (.478 in 2007) as would its 3–point field goal percentage of .380 (.404 in 2008).

DOUBLE VISION: Derrick Anderson's 15–point, 14–rebound double–double against Sonoma State was not only his first collegiate double–double, it has been the only double–double by an Otter in the last 37 games. Davion Berry was the last Otter to turn the trick, scoring 24 points with 12 boards in a 78–63 win over Cal State East Bay on Feb. 19, 2010.

LOUSTALE, WARD LEAD THE WAY: Junior forward Kevin Loustale (Chico HS/Shasta College) and Brandon Ward have been models of shooting consistency this season. Shooting at least 60 percent from the floor in eight of his first nine games, Loustale leads the CCAA in field goal percentage at 70.9. Ward, meanwhile, is the CCAA's top free–throw shooter at 87.1 percent.

OTTERS AMONG THE CCAA LEADERS: Several Otters enter this week's action ranked among the CCAA leaders. CSUMB players ranked in the top 10 are:

START ME UP: By starting the Dec. 30 game against Cal State Dominguez Hills, Brandon Ward continued his steady climb up the CSUMB career starts top 10 list. Ward made his 53rd Otter start that night, leaving him one behind Dexter Amey and Mike Miller for No. 4. Should Ward start all 26 regular season games in 2011–12, he would end the season with 70 career starts, No. 3 on the all–time list and just six off the record held by current assistant coach Joe Mitchell.

THE MONTEREY BAY 500: Brandon Ward's final bucket Dec. 10 at Notre Dame de Namur put him in exclusive company. It lifted the junior guard over 500 career points (501). Ward becomes just the 16th Otter to reach that plateau. He enters Thursday's game with 553 points, good for No. 14. He needs 62 points to catch Mike Miller at No. 13 Should he continue at his current pace, Ward will end the regular season as CSUMB's ninth all–time leading scorer.

THE WARD GIVETH… Brandon Ward passed for five assists versus Cal State East Bay and enters the SFSU game with 155 career assists, passing Richards Jenkins with 153 and tying Steve Monreal at No. 4 with 155. DShon Cannon owns the Otter record with 371.

…AND THE WARD TAKETH AWAY: Brandon Ward added two steals to his career total at East Bay and enters the SFSU game alone in 10th on the CSUMB career list with 54 steals. Joe Mitchell hold the Otter record with 91 steals.

NOW THAT'S SMARTS: The Otter men's basketball team boasted three players who earned CCAA All–Academic honors for their classroom work in 2010–11. The Otter triumvirate of James Albert, Brenden Fripp (Santa Barbara/Palo Verde HS) and Brandon Ward made CSUMB the only school to place three men's basketball players on the list. In case you were wondering, Albert posted a 3.65 grade point average as a business administration major. Ward posted a 3.90 GPA as a business administration major.