SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team will try to finish its best season since 2009 with a flourish when it plays a pair of games in the Bay area this weekend. The Otters play at Sonoma State Friday (Feb. 28) and at San Francisco State Saturday (Mar. 1). Both games tipoff at 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of men's/women's doubleheader action.

As with all CSUMB basketball games, live audio will be available for both games at OtterAthletics.com. Fans in the Monterey Bay area can listen over the air on KRXA 540 AM. Long-time play-by-play Rob Ponce will call the action for both games. Both Sonoma State and San Francisco State will have live stats and streaming video on their respective websites. 

SCOUTING THE SEAWOLVES (6–18, 5–15 CCAA): Although Sonoma State is a perennial postseason contender, this hasn't been the Seawolves's season. Not only are they going to miss the CCAA Tournament for just the second time in six years, they're going to finish with their worst record since the Sonoma State Cossacks went 6–20 in 1994. Nevertheless, SSU snapped a 3–games skid with an impressive 76–58 win at UCSD Saturday night. Seniors Justin Herold and Sterling Arterberry have done most of the damage for the Seawolves this season, averaging 13.6 and 13.2 points per game respectively. Herold leads the team in rebounding (6.3 rpg) while Arterberry leads in assists (2.3 apg).

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters led by double digits in the second half before Sonoma State rallied to pull off the 68–66 upset in The Kelp Bed on Jan. 25. Justin Herold's layup with 1:44 remaining broke the last tie and neither team scored over the final 104 seconds. Herold led everybody with a 24–point, 11–rebound double–double. Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) and Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS) led the Otters with 15 points apiece.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, OTTER EDITION: For the better part of 30 minutes the Otters had their way with Cal State Stanislaus. But the offense went into a deep freeze late, scoring just three points over the final 10:13 as the Warriors rallied for a 72–54 win in The Kelp Bed Saturday night. Ryan Nitz and Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) led CSUMB with 13 and 12 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, SEAWOLF EDITION: RIMAC Arena at UC San Diego traditionally is a tough venue for CCAA opponents, but the Seawolves had little trouble there Saturday night, leading virtually wire–to–wire in a 76–58 win. Jason Walter led three Seawolves in double figures with 21 points. David Ahern added 19 points.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters shot 53 percent (10–of–19) from beyond the arc, then the No. 4 mark in CSUMB history, in an 84–66 win over UC San Diego on Feb. 28, 2008.

BEATING THE BEST: After not defeating a nationally–ranked NCAA Division II opponent for their first 15 seasons, the Otters vanquished two in the past month 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, Feb. 6 in Kellogg Gym.

FINISHING STRONG: The Otters will need to win at least one of two this weekend in order to continue their tradition of winning at least one of the final four games to finish a season. Only once in its history (2010–11) has CSUMB finished a season without winning at least one of its final four.

ROAD SWEET ROAD: With two wins this weekend the Otters would pull off the unusual (but not unprecedented) feat of winning more road games than homes games this season. CSUMB enters the week with five wins in The Kelp Bed and four on the road. The Otters also enjoyed better road success in 1998–99 (13 wins vs. 12); 2006–07 (5 vs. 4) and in 2010–11 (6 vs. 3).

THE FANTASTIC FIVE: Twice this season, five Otters scored in double figures, including 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). If 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 enters the week ranked No. 3 in the CCAA with 39 steals (1.7 spg). With four steals last week he passed Alex Fertig (2013) and Cedrick Petty (1999) for the No. 10 spot on the Otter single season list with 39.

STEALING IS TEAM GAME: Led by five steals from Greg Anderson, the Otters compiled 13 steals in the Jan. 25 Sonoma State game. That's a season high and tied for No. 15 in the CSUMB single–game record book. As a team, the Otters enter the week with 141 steals, good for No. 11.

NITZ ON THE LIST: Ryan Nitz scored 27 points last weekend to crack the CSUMB single season top 20 list for scoring with 359 points. He needs to averaged 20.5 ppg this weekend to become just the 14th player in Otter history to score 400 points in a single season.

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. 14 WITH A BULLET: Alex Fertig continues to shoot up the CSUMB career scoring chart. His 32 points last week raised his career total to 693 moving him past Derrick Anderson (677) into 13th place. Richard Jenkins (721) is next on the list in 12th.

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.