SEASIDE, Calif. -- After an historic sweep of the Cal Poly Pomona/Humboldt State trip to conclude their recent 4-game roadtrip, the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of The Kelp Bed looking to build on that momentum by starting a 4-game homestand Friday night.

The Otters open by hosting UC San Diego Friday night (Feb. 14) and No. 12 Cal State San Bernardino Saturday night (Feb. 15). Both games will tip-off at 7 p.m. and are not part of doubleheader action.

As always, fans who can't make it to the games may listen watch on www.OtterAthletics.com. Rob Ponce will call the action from courtside with former CSUMB Assistant Coach Alex Hudson handling the color duties. As always, live stats and video will be available at www.OtterAthletics.com.

After this weekend, the Otters will conclude the home portion of their 2013-14 schedule when they host Chico State (Feb. 21) and Cal State Stanislaus (Feb. 22). Both of those games will be 7:30 p.m. tips as the nightcap of men's/women's doubleheader action.

SCOUTING THE TRITONS (12–8, 8–8 CCAA): After starting hot then surviving a midseason funk, the Tritons are riding their best run of the season into Friday's meeting in The Kelp Bed. UCSD has won three straight and five of its last six, including an impressive sweep of the Stanislaus/Chico trip last weekend. James McCann leads the Triton offense at 15.9 points per game and ranks No. 2 in the CCAA by averaging 6.2 assists per game. Drew Dyer adds 12.2 ppg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Following an epic battle at Cal State San Bernardino the previous night, the Otters ran out of gas late in the first half and UC San Diego pulled away from that point to win 93–70 at RIMAC Arena on Jan. 11. Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College) led the Otters with a career–high 19 points. Hunter Walker and James McCann led four Tritons in double figures with 25 and 22 points respectively.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, OTTER EDITION: The Otters shook off a slow start to complete a season–sweep of Humboldt State with a 76–67 win Saturday night in Arcata. Coming off the bench for the first time this season, Kris Gallop led four Otters in double figures with 17 points. Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS) and Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) added 14 points apiece.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, TRITON EDITION: Although they led for all but 32 seconds of Saturday's 67–65 win at Cal State Stanislaus, the Tritons didn't seal the victory until Warrior guard Clinton Tremelling was called for charging with less than two seconds remaining. James McCann led four UCSD scorers in double figures with 16 points. Drew Dyer added 14 points and eight rebounds.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters made 40 field goals, then the No. 3 mark in CSUMB history, but it wasn't enough as Holy Names pulled out a 94–93 decision in Oakland on Feb. 14, 2004.

BEATING THE BEST: After not defeating a nationally–ranked NCAA Division II opponent for their first 15 seasons, the Otters have vanquished two in the past three weeks—both on the road. CSUMB took down then No. 25 Chico State, 73–72, in Acker Gym on Jan. 18 before beating No. 18 Cal Poly Pomona, 60–57, Thursday night in Kellogg Gym. They'll get a third crack when No. 12 Cal State San Bernardino visits Saturday night.

HOW SWEEP IT IS: The Otters recorded not one but two first–time sweeps with its wins at Cal Poly Pomona and Humboldt State last weekend. The Otters completed a season sweep of Humboldt State for the first time in program history. They swept the Pomona/Humboldt trip for the first time as well.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: CSUMB's wins at Cal Poly Pomona's Kellogg Gym and Humboldt State's Lumberjack Arena were the first ever for the Otters in each venue.

THE FANTASTIC FIVE: For the second time this season, five Otters scored in double figures in the Jan. 25 win at Chico State. The scoring quintuplets were: Alex Fertig (15), Ryan Nitz (15), Greg Anderson (Murietta/Palomar College) 14, Kris Gallop (11) and Devin Murphy (Sacramento/Sierra College) (10). In case you're wondering, the other occurrence was an 89–83 win over Cal State East Bay on Dec. 21.

WHAT A STEAL: In addition to twice matching the CSUMB team high for steals in a game this season (5 at Cal State East Bay on Dec. 14 and vs. Cal State East Bay on Dec. 21), Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) enters the week ranked No. 2 in the CCAA with 33 steals (1.7 spg). He is looking to join Chris Jackson and Chris Hardy (both in 1998–99) as the only Otters to average 2.0 or more steals per game.

STEALING IS TEAM GAME: Led by five steals from Greg Anderson (Murietta/Palomar College), the Otters compiled 13 steals in the Sonoma State Jan. 25  game. That's a season high and tied for No. 15 in the CSUMB single–game record book.

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE: The last time the Otters and Tritons met, all 12 Otters in uniform scored in the game. It marks the only game this season in which that has happened.

FERTIG FLYING HIGH… Not only was the 30–point night by Alex Fertig Jan. 10 at San Bernardino a career–high, it marked the first 30–point game by an Otter since Brandon Ward scored 31 at Sonoma State on Feb. 2, 2012.

…WITH AN ASTERISK: Though it didn't count on the official stats, the San Bernardino game was actually Fertig's second 30–point game of the season. He dropped 31 points on San Jose State in the Otters' 78–69 exhibition win over the Spartans on Nov. 4.

No. 16 WITH A BULLET: Alex Fertig continues to shoot up the CSUMB career scoring chart. His 14 points Saturday night raised his career total to 637 moving him into 14th place ahead of Steve Monreal (634). Next up is Derrick Anderson in 13th place with 677 points.

CLOSE ONLY COUNTS… Against Sonoma State and Cal State Dominguez Hills, not only did the Otters lose consecutive games by two (or one) points for just the second time in school history, but they've played consecutive games decided by that margin for just the third time. The Otters lost to Notre Dame de Namur (71–70) and Cal State L.A. (62–60) on Dec. 10 & 18, 2011. The Otters beat Chico State (106–104) and San Francisco State (75–74) on Feb. 3 & 6, 2008.