Skip To Main Content

CSU Monterey Bay Athletics

Skip to Navigation

Scoreboard desktop

Schedule

All Events
2013 MBB Notebook Graphic-Julian Ball
Vernon McKnight

Critical Roadtrip Begins At Humboldt State, Pomona

| By: By Kevin Gilmore
The Otters face a must-win game to open their four-game roadtrip Thursday at Humboldt State.

Otters looking for first-ever sweep of Humboldt to open trip Thursday





SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team will be looking not only first its first-ever sweep of Humboldt State, but also a much needed win to stay in the CCAA Tournament picture when it opens its final regular season roadtrip of the 2012-13 season Thursday in Arcata.

Like the Otters, the Lumberjacks enter the week on the outside looking in at the CCAA Tournament field. Whichever team wins will keep its postseason hopes very much alive.

Tipofff will be at 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of men's/women's doubleheader action. Otters fans can listen online at www.OtterAthletics.com. Rob Ponce will call all of the action live from courtside. Live video also will be available at www.HSUJacks.com.


SCOUTING THE LUMBERJACKS (9–11, 5–11 CCAA): The Lumberjacks appeared to turn the corner with three consecutive wins, only to drop a pair on the San Diego/San Bernardino trip last weekend. Like the Otters, they will be desperate for a sweep this weekend to keep alive hopes of a CCAA Tournament bid. With the midseason departure of swingman Alec Williams, junior Austin Bryan has stepped up to become Humboldt's leading scorer at 12.9 points per game. Cal State Bakersfield/Yuba City transfer Deaundray Robinson leads the Humboldt boardmen at 5.8 rebounds per game.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters removed the Humboldt State monkey from their collective back, defeating the Lumberjacks for the first time in 18 tries with a 70–61 victory in The Kelp Bed on Jan. 12. Senior guard Brandon Ward (Riverside/Woodcrest HS) used the night to become the fourth player in Otter history to reach 1,000 career points, pouring in a game–high 21 to lead CSUMB.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters made the Golden Eagles work for it, but in the end, Cal State had just enough to pull out a 65–58 win Feb. 9 in The Kelp Bed. Brandon Ward scored all of his game–high 14 points in the first half before foul trouble stopped him cold. Freshman guard Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) picked up some of the slack, scoring all 12 of his points in the second half.

GOING FOR THE SWEEP: The Otters will be going for their first–ever sweep of the season series with Humboldt State on Friday night. In fact they will be looking for their first season sweep of any opponent since taking two from Cal State East Bay in 2009–10.

ABOUT THE CCAA RACE: The Otters are still very much alive in the CCAA race, but obviously need to put together a bit of a streak to have a shot at a top eight finish and the tournament bid that goes with it. For this weekend, San Francisco State is the only team that control its own destiny regarding clinching a spot, needing to win just one game. Cal State L.A., Cal State Dominguez Hills, UC San Diego and Chico State all could clinch with two wins and the right combination of other results from around the league.

WARD PUTTING DISTANCE BETWEEN HIMSELF AND PURSUERS ON CSUMB SCORING LIST: With CSUMB's career scoring record now secure, Brandon Ward will spend the balance of his senior season putting space between himself and any would–be pursuers in the CSUMB record book. He broke the previous record held by Matt Dalhamer of 1,075 in the Jan. 26 win at Cal State Stanislaus. With 19 points last Saturday vs. Sonoma State, Ward eclipsed the 1,100 point barrier. Ward has six regular season games (plus any potential postseason appearances) to put distance between himself and any future challengers.

LIQUID NITROGEN COLD: How cold were the Otter shooters Jan. 17 vs. UCSD? Try as cold as liquid nitrogen (that's 322 degrees below zero for the non–physicists out there). CSUMB went 0–for–14 from beyond the three–point arc, the second worst performance in school history. It was the first time since the second game of the Rob Bishop era that the Otters failed to make a three–pointer. Stretching over three games, the Otters missed a school–record 22–consecutive three–pointers between Jan. 12–19 before an Alex Fertig trey broke the spell with 16:07 remaining against San Bernardino. CSUMB finished the game by making five of its last nine from long range.

…BUT WARMING UP: The Otters have begun to awaken from their recent shooting slumber. Including an 8–of–17 (47.1 pct.) performance in the Jan. 26 win at Stanislaus, CSUMB has made 32 of its last 89 attempts from beyond the arc (36.0 pct.).
SUPERNOVA HOT: How hot has Kevin Loustale been lately? Try has hot as a supernova (around 3.7 billion degrees Kelvin or 4.8 billion Fahrenheit for the non–physicists out there). Loustale enters the week 37–of–60 (61.7 percent) from the field over his last nine games, bringing his season total to 58.5 percent (good for No. 4 in the CCAA).

POPPING THE DOUBLE–DOUBLE BUBBLE: Senior forward Kevin Loustale became the first Otter men's player to record a double–double this season when he went for 10 points and 10 rebounds Jan. 19 versus San Bernardino. It was the first double–double for an Otter since Loustale (14 & 11) and Derrick Anderson (Pittsburg HS) (12 & 10) each turned the trick against UCSD on Feb. 17, 2012. For good measure, Loustale added his second double–double (11 & 15) Jan. 26 at Stanislaus.

ON THE BLOCKS: Junior forward Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College) posted a team season–high four blocks Jan. 5 at Cal State L.A. That mark is tied for the No. 4 spot in the CSUMB record book and were the most blocks since Andrew Castro blocked five shots in a win at Cal Poly SLO on Nov. 18, 2010. He added his 21st block Friday night versus Cal State L.A. to tie Will Chavarin (1999) for No. 5 on the CSUMB single–season list.

FERTIG AMONG CCAA SCORING LEADERS: Freshman guard Alex Fertig entered the week ranked No. 6 among the CCAA scoring leaders at 14.3 points per game. He is the only freshman ranked in the top 20 (Cal State L.A. freshman guard Joshua Munzon in No. 24 at 10.1 ppg).

SO CLOSE… The Otters just missed scoring their most points in a regulation conference game during the Rob Bishop era by hanging 98 points on Cal State East Bay Dec. 30. The high water mark is 99 points in a 99–88 win at Cal State Stanislaus on Jan. 30, 2009. The 98 points were the third most scored in a regulation CCAA game in Otter history, trailing only the aforementioned game at Stanislaus and 107 points (also at Stanislaus) on Jan. 19, 2007.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: By scoring 180 points versus Academy of Art (82) and Cal State East Bay (98), the Otters set a school record for points in consecutive regulation wins over NCAA Division II competition. The 2006–07 Otters scored 188 points in consecutive games versus Chico State (99) and Cal State Stanislaus (89), but fell in the Stanislaus game, 96–89.

THE WARD GIVETH… Brandon Ward's two assists Feb. 9 versus Cal State Dominguez Hills give him 237 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 Humboldt State game two behind D'Shon Cannon for the No. 3 spot with 83 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 (including a 72–66 win over San Bernardino) and 6–1 overall when playing bonus basketball under Bishop.

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.

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.

SIT THIS ONE OUT: Freshman Tim Darkwa will practice with the team but is expected to redshirt the 2012–13 season.


GET ENTHUSE, EARN REWARDS

Hey Otter fans, want to earn rewards simply following your favorite CSUMB sports teams? Of course you do. Otter Athletics is partnering with Enthuse to allow you to do just that. All you have to do is visit the iTunes Store (iPhones) or play.google.com (Android) and download the FREE Enthuse app.

Once installed, search for “Monterey Bay Otters” to find your favorite CSUMB teams and you'll start earning points immediately. The more you follow the Otters, the more points you'll earn and the more free stuff you'll get. It really is that easy.

So download the Enthuse app and start earning your rewards today.
Print Friendly Version

Related Videos

Related Stories