Alex Fertig scored a career-high 30 points Friday night at Cal State San Bernardino. It was the first 30-point game by an Otter since Feb. 2, 2012.
BOX SCORE
Cal St. San Bernardino 96, CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 86
FINAL BOX SCORE |
|
SCOREBOARD |
1 |
2 |
OT |
FINAL |
|
Cal St. Monterey Bay (4-6, 2-5 CCAA) |
44 |
42 |
|
86 |
|
No. 14 Cal St. San Bernardino (10-1, 7-0 CCAA) |
55 |
41 |
|
96 |
|
|
TOP PERFORMERS |
|
|
SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team gave No. 14 Cal State San Bernardino all it could handle, but the Coyotes took better care of the ball, allowing them to hold on for a 96–86 win Friday night in Coussoulis Arena.
CSUMB (4–6, 2–5 CCAA) made an impressive 12–of–17 (70.6 percent) from beyond the arc, the third–best performance in school history. But the Otters had trouble holding on to the ball (20 turnovers) were just 12–of–24 from the free–throw line. San Bernardino (10–1, 7–0), meanwhile, turned the ball over just eight times and made 18–of–25 from the line.
The loss put a damper on a career night from sophomore guard
Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS), who scored a career–high 30 points to lead four Otters in double figures. CSUMB also got a career–high 17 points from freshman
Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS) and a 10–point, 11–rebound double–double from
Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College).
The Otters came out on fire, opening a 13–4 lead in the first four minutes of the game. But San Bernardino stormed back to out–score CSUMB 51–31 over the balance of the half to take a 55–44 lead into intermission.
The Coyote lead didn't last long. Five Otters scored in a 15–4 run to open the second half.
Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) finished the surge by grabbing a defensive rebound and going coast–to–coast to tie it at 59–59. The Otters kept the Coyotes within two possessions for most of the second half, tying the game for the final time a 73–73 on a Fertig 3–ball with 7:04 to play.
San Bernardino finally got the separation in craved when a Lacey Haddock 3–pointer put the Coyotes up 86–79 inside of three minutes to play. Two lay–ups and six late free throws helped account for the final margin.
"The second half was the best 20 minutes of basketball we've played this year," said CSUMB Head Coach
Rob Bishop (@Coach_RBishop). "We gave ourselves a chance to win. We took their best shot in the first half and came back. This is the best basketball team in our league and maybe the best we'll play all year and they always play well at home."
CSUMB continues its 4–game roadtrip Saturday night when it heads down I–15 to tackle UC San Diego in La Jolla.
GO OTTERS!
