SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Another close but no cigar effort in Coussoulis Arena for the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team, which fell to host Cal State San Bernardino 69-66 Thursday night.

The Otters rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half and possessed the ball with chances to tie twice in the final 15 seconds but couldn't get over the hump.

CSUMB (8-7, 4-5 CCAA) placed four scorers in double figures, led by Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS), who became the eighth player in Otter history to surpass 900 career points (904) with his 16-point night. CSUMB also got 15 points from Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS), 12 from Daye Turner (Compton/Centennial HS) and 10 from Isaiah Smith (Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS).

Jacob Thomas scored all of his game-high 19 points in the second half to lead San Bernardino (5-7, 5-4).

But the balanced scoring couldn't mask an off-shooting night from the Otters, who went a season-worst 3-of-16 (19 percent) from 3-point range.

CSUMB will head north to complete its 2-game trip when it meets Humboldt State in Arcata Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Otters return home to host Cal State Stanislaus Jan. 23.