Men's Basketball | January 20, 2015

SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team has a golden opportunity to reinsert itself into the thick of the CCAA race this week when it host CCAA-leading Cal State Stanislaus Friday (Jan. 23) and 2014 West Region champion Chico State Saturday (Jan. 24) in The Kelp Bed for a pair of games. Both games tipoff at 7:30 p.m. as the nightcaps of men's/women's doubleheader action.

Fans who can't make it to The Kelp Bed can watch locally in HD on Campus Televideo Ch. 73.1 and and watch live on OtterAthletics.com. Fans my stream the audio portion of the broadcast on KION's iHeartRadio stream. As usual, Rob Ponce will handle the play–by–play duties and former Otter assistant coach Alex Hudson will provide the color. For all of the appropriate links, visit Otter GameDay Central.

After this weekend, the Otters begin the second half of their CCAA schedule at Cal Poly Pomona and UC San Diego Jan. 30-31. CSUMB returns to The Kelp Bed to host San Francisco State and Sonoma State Feb. 6-7.
 

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WARRIOR 3–DOT NOTES (11–4, 8–2 CCAA): Larry Reynolds is looking to become the first coach to win a CCAA men's basketball title with two different teams as he has the Warriors in first place at the midway point…he won several titles as the head coach at San Bernardino in the late 1990s/early 2000s…they're seven games over .500 despite a scoring margin of just 1.1 ppg…senior swingman Chris Read and senior forward Wes Bartole top a balanced Warrior scoring chart at 13.3 and 11.0 ppg respectively…Bartole and senior big man Rob Walters lead the Warrior boardmen at 7.1 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: For 30 minutes, it looked like the Otters were on their way to a senior night victory in The Kelp Bed last Feb. 22. But the Stanislaus defense rose up, holding the Otters to just three points over the final 10:13 to turn an 8–point deficit into a 72–54 win. Ryan Nitz led CSUMB with 13 points. Chris Reed scored 25 for Stanislaus.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters had a chance to put away a road victory at fellow CCAA Tournament hopeful Humboldt State Saturday night in Arcata. But the missed front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity cracked the door just enough and a Humboldt layup with 0.5 seconds remaining gave the Lumberjacks a 75–74 win. Greg Anderson led five Otters in double figures with 13 points.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Joe Mitchell pulled down 15 rebounds, then the No. 9 mark in CSUMB history, to lead the Otters to an 85–75 win at San Francisco State on Jan. 23, 2008.

THE 900 CLUB: With 16 points Thursday night at Cal State San Bernardino, Alex Fertig became the eighth player in Otter history to surpass 900 career points. He needs 30 points to catch D'Shon Cannon (946) and 34 to catch Davion Berry (950) for seventh and sixth place respectively. If he maintains his current pace, he'll finish his junior campaign as the No. 3 scorer in Otter history (1,063). Brandon Ward owns the Otter all–time scoring record of 1,231 points (2010–13).

HOW SWEEP IT IS: After splitting the season series the first three times they in CCAA play, either the Otters (3) or the Warriors (3) have swept each of the six season series since 2008.

QUINTUPLE DOUBLE FIGURES: The Otters placed five scorers in double figures last Saturday at Humboldt State, the first time they have accomplished the feat this season. The last time five Otters turned that trick in a single game came in an 89–83 win over Cal State East Bay on Dec. 20, 2013.

ANOTHER DOUBLE–DOUBLE: Greg Anderson posted his second double–double of the season (and the fifth of his career) with 13 points and 11 rebounds at Humboldt State last week. In fact, Anderson owns CSUMB's last four double–double. The last Otter not named Greg Anderson to record a double–double was Kris Gallop. who had 10 points and 11 rebounds at Cal State San Bernardino on Jan. 10, 2014.

OTTERS AMONG THE CCAA LEADERS: With Evan Zeller, the league's top scorer, leading the way, the Otters are well represented in the CCAA's Top 10 lists. Otters making the grade include: SCORING: No. 1 Evan Zeller (16.8 ppg); *3PT%: No. 4 Evan Zeller (.412); FT%: No. 5 Daye Turner (.844); No. 9 Evan Zeller (.800); REBOUNDS: No. 3 Greg Anderson (7.2 rpg), No. 8 Jorey Scott (5.6); ASSISTS: No. 5 Patrick Lefiti (3.3 apg), No. 10 Evan Zeller (2.6 apg).  *Min. 2.0 made per game

IT'S A TEAM GAME: The Otters are also well–represented among the CCAA team stat leaders, including topping the circuit in rebounding (35.9 rpg). They enter the Stanislaus game ranked No. 2 in the CCAA scoring race at 73.0 ppg. They also rank No. 2 in assists (13.3 apg) and  No. 4 in free–throw shooting (.693). They rank No. 5 in field goal (.453) and 3–point (.362) shooting as well.

HE GIVITH AND HE TAKETH AWAY: Alex Fertig enters the Stanislaus game holding the No. 8 spot on the CSUMB career assist list with 138. He needs 9 more to catch Steve Becker for No. 7. On the flip side, he enters the game No. 6 on the Otter career steals list with 76. He needs three more to catch Steve Monreal for fifth. He has a chance to catch Joe Mitchell's school record of 91 by season's end.