The Otters renew their rivalry with former Cal Pac Conference foe Dominican University Saturday evening in The Kelp Bed.
SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team will jump right back into action following the Thanksgiving holiday by hosting old Cal Pac Conference rival Dominican University Saturday in a rare 5 p.m. tipoff. The game will be the final tune-up before the Otters open California Collegiate Athletic Association play at Sonoma State (Nov. 30) and San Francisco State (Dec. 1).
Fans can listen live on
KRXA 540 AM or listen and watch live online at wwwOtterAthletics.com.
SCOUTING THE PENGUINS: Dominican has gone overtime in two of its first three outings this season, defeating San Francisco State 115–110 in a triple OT thriller before falling to Sonoma State 91–87 in a more pedestrian single overtime affair. Freshman guard Christopher Schwartz–Edmisten, the leading prep scorer in California last season, lit up Sonoma for 32 points last Saturday. He leads six Penguins averaging in double figures at 15.0 points per game.
WHEN LAST WE MET: The former California Pacific Conference rivals haven't met since Dominican took a 94–81 decision in the Cal Pac Tournament finals in 2004. The Otters haven't beaten the Penguins since earning an 81–68 win in The Kelp Bed on Feb. 5, 2000.
ABOUT LAST WEEK: Although they went 1–2 on the trip, the Otters found many positives to take from their Alaska adventure. Among other things, it allowed more time for the young team's eight newcomers — and four freshman — to come together with CCAA play just around the corner on Nov. 30.
FERTIG NAMED TO ALL–TOURNAMENT TEAM: Freshman guard
Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) picked up the first piece of hardware for the Otters this season, earning All–Tournament recognition at the GCI Alaska Invitational. He averaged 18.7 points per game over the weekend, including CSUMB's first 20–point games of the season with 24 vs. Colorado Christian and 21 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State.
LARGE MARGINS, HOME EDITION: The season–opening 104–52 win over Pacifica University set a CSUMB record for largest margin of victory (52 points) in an Otter home win. Last night, CSUMB's 78–58 win over Colorado Christian was the largest margin of victory in a road game during the Road Bishop era at CSUMB. The previous record was 19 points in an 83–64 win at Cal State East Bay on Feb. 3, 2011.
LARGE MARGINS, ROAD EDITION: Last Friday's 78–58 win over Colorado Christian was the largest margin of victory (20 points) in a road game in the
Rob Bishop era of Otter basketball.
THE CENTURY CLUB: Sunday's 104–point performance marked the highest–scoring game of the
Rob Bishop era, eclipsing the 99 points scored in a 99–88 win at Cal State Stanislaus on Jan. 30, 2009. The 104 points are the ninth entry in the CSUMB Century Club and rank No. 5 for points scored in a regulation game.
THE CHILIAD CLUB: Senior guard
Brandon Ward began the season knocking on the door of CSUMB's exclusive Chiliad Club. His 19 points Sunday versus Pacifica vaulted him from ninth to seventh place with 859 career points. He needs 119 to become the fourth player in Otter history to score 1,000 career points.
Matt Dalhamer owns the CSUMB career record with 1,075 points from 1999–2001.
THE WARD GIVETH… Brandon Ward passed for 10 assists last weekend at the GCI Alaska Invitational, giving him an even 200 career assists, good for No. 2 in the CSUMB record book.
D'Shon Cannon owns the top spot with 371 assists from 2006–08.
…AND THE WARD TAKETH AWAY: Brandon Ward continues his quest for the CSUMB career steals record, entering the Dominican University game in the No. 5 spot with 71 steals. Next up in fourth place is
Steve Monreal with 79 steals.
Joe Mitchell holds the record with 91 steals.
START ME UP: Brandon Ward is inching closer to another record, needing just three starts to catch CSUMB record holder
Joe Mitchell with 76 career starts. With Saturday's start against Oklahoma Panhandle, he passed
D'Shon Cannon (73) for second place on the list. Senior forward
Derrick Anderson is also well within reach of the record, entering the week tied for No. 4 on the list with 67 starts.
WORKING OVERTIME: One area where the Otters have excelled in the
Rob Bishop Era is in overtime. CSUMB was 2–0 in overtime during the 2011–12 season and 6–1 overall when playing bonus basketball under Bishop.
NOW THAT'S SMARTS: After leading the conference with three members of the CCAA All–Academic team in 2011, the Otter men's basketball team built on that success by placing four players on that team in 2012:
James Albert,
Geoff McIntosh,
Brandon Ward and
Troy Watkins. CSUMB's seven CCAA All–Academic team members over the last two seasons are tops among the 12 conference schools. Ward, in fact, is a three–year member of the CCAA All–Academic team.
TAKE THEM, THEY'RE FREE: The Otters finished the 2011–12 campaign with an aggregate 71.3 percentage effort from the free–throw line. That mark ranked No. 5 in CSUMB record book and marked the sixth consecutive season the Otters shot at least 71 percent from the charity stripe.
WELCOME BACK: The Otters return all five starters from the 2011–12 roster. Altogether, CSUMB welcomes back 80.1 percent of its scoring and 71.6 percent of its rebounding from last season.
SIT THIS ONE OUT: Freshman
Tim Darkwa and junior
Rafael Morelos will practice with the team but are expected to redshirt the 2012–13 season.
