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SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team continues its four-game roadtrip with the first of two games in the east Bay area at PacWest Conference foe Holy Names University Thursday night (Dec. 6) in Oakland. The Otters will conclude their trip Saturday night (Dec. 8) by returning to California Collegiate Athletic Association action at Cal State East Bay in Hayward.

Tip-off for Thursday's game at HNU game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Fans can listen live on KRXA 540 AM or online at OtterAthletics.com.

CLICK HERE for video from HNUHawks.com. There will be no live stats for this game.

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SCOUTING THE HAWKS: The Hawks are still looking for their first win at the NCAA Division II level after dropping five straight to open the season. Their only game against a CCAA opponent so far was an 84–52 loss at Humboldt State Nov. 24. They're coming off a 76–56 loss to Dominican (Calif.) Saturday. Junior guard Tyler Fry is the only Hawk scoring in double figures so far, entering the week with a 12.4 point per game scoring average. He also leads the team in rebounding at 5.8 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The teams met in an exhibition game in The Kelp Bed last season with the Hawks earning an 84–76 overtime decision. Brandon Ward (Riverside/Woodcrest HS) and Geoff McIntosh (Gig Harbor, Wash./No. Oklahoma) led CSUMB with 19 and 15 points respectively. David Scott led Holy Names with 34 points.

ABOUT LAST WEEK: The Otters dropped a pair of games in the Bay area to open CCAA play, falling at Sonoma State 92–77 and at San Francisco State 60–55. Brandon Ward came off the bench to lead CSUMB with 17 points at Sonoma State. James Thomas (Castro Valley/Bishop O'Dowd) came off the bench to score 14 points at SFSU while Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College) matched the team season high with 11 rebounds.

STARTING STREAK ENDS FOR WARD: By coming off the bench Friday night in Sonoma, Brandon Ward's streak of consecutive starts ended at 69 games. The last time he didn't start prior to Friday night was against Cal State East Bay on Jan. 22, 2010.

START ME UP: Despite not starting at Sonoma State, Brandon Ward is enters the week on the doorstep of history. With his next start, he will break the CSUMB record for career starts with 77. He currently shares the record with Joe Mitchell at 76 career starts. Senior forward Derrick Anderson (Pittsburg HS) is also well within reach of the record, entering Thursday's game No. 4 on the list with 70 starts.

ANOTHER MITCHELL MARK IN HIS SIGHTS: The Otters have 22 games left in the regular season. Should Brandon Ward appear in all of them, he will have 107 career appearances, one behind Joe Mitchell's CSUMB record. He can break the record if the Otters earn a postseason berth.

THE CENTURY CLUB: Nov. 11th'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 Nov. 11 versus Pacifica vaulted him from ninth to seventh place with 859 career points. He needs 75 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.

FRONTRUNNERS: When the Otters took a 31–24 lead into the lockerroom at San Francisco State Saturday night, it marked the first time they had led at the half in a CCAA contest since they led Sonoma State 44–32 on Feb. 18, 2011. That's a span of 28 games.

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: Nov. 16th'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 WARD GIVETH… Brandon Ward's five assists Saturday at San Francisco State gives him 208 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 Holy Names game in the No. 5 spot with 73 steals. Next up in fourth place is Steve Monreal with 79 steals. Joe Mitchell holds the record with 91 steals.

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.

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.

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.