BOX SCORE

CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 76, HUMBOLDT STATE 69 FINAL BOX SCORE

SCOREBOARD  1  2  OT  FINAL Cal St. Monterey Bay (8-11, 6-10 CCAA)  29  47  76 Humboldt State (9-13, 4-12 CCAA)  31  36  69

TOP PERFORMERS

OTTERS No. STAT No. LUMBERJACKS Kris Gallop 17 Points 22 David Howard Greg Anderson 8 Rebounds 9 Brandon Pomrehn Ryan Nitz 3 Assists 5 Allan Guei

ARCATA, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team brought out the brooms to complete an historic weekend sweep with a 76–69 win at Humboldt State Saturday night in Lumberjack Arena.

Two nights after toppling the highest–ranked opponent in school history—a 60–57 win at No. 18 Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday—the Otters defeated Humboldt for the first time in Arcata. It completed their first season sweep of the Lumberjacks and their first–ever sweep of the Pomona–Humboldt trip.

The Otters (8–11, 6–10 CCAA) surpassed last season's CCAA win total with the victory and kept themselves alive in the race for one of six CCAA Tournament bids. The loss deals an almost certainly fatal blow to Humboldt State, which fell to 9–13 and 4–12.

"They're becoming a good team before your eyes," said Head Coach Rob Bishop (@Coach_RBishop). "The kids just played outstanding. We defended and we got contributions from everybody. We're figuring out how to win close games."

The Otters received significant contributions from many quarters, but none bigger than those from senior center Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College), who led four Otters in double figures with 17 points in his first game off the bench this season. In fact, Gallop led a CSUMB bench that out–scored Humboldt's 41–6 for the game.

CSUMB also got 14 points off the bench from freshman Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS) and from starter Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS), who moved to within five points of Steve Monreal for the No. 14 spot on the CSUMB career scoring list (629).

For its part, Humboldt threatened to run away with Saturday's game several times, first by opening a 10–point lead (26–16) late in the first half. But the Otters responded like a the veteran team they are becoming, closing the period with a 13–5 run to pull to within 31–29 at the break.

After an Allan Guei layup put the Lumberjacks up 44–35 three and a half minutes after the restart, CSUMB responded by tying the game on an Isaiah Smith (Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS) at 52–52 with 9:49 remaining before taking the lead for good at 60–59 on a Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) free–throw line jumper four minutes later.

Nitz's basket keyed a 9–2 run which got the Otter lead to 67–61. Humboldt never got closer than two possessions for the final 3:48.

"We still have to fix some things, we still have to get better, but we're playing our best basketball right now," said Bishop. "As long as we continue to get better night in and night out, that's all I can ask."

CSUMB returns home to open a 4–game homestand by hosting UC San Diego Friday night in a rare 7 p.m. tip. The Otters will also play No. 12 Cal State San Bernardino Saturday at 7 p.m. as they look for their third win over a nationally–ranked opponent in three weeks.