OTTERS vs. WARRIORS HIGHLIGHTSSEASIDE, Calif. — There's something about being home for the holidays. The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team posted its second biggest win ever over an NCAA Division II opponent Friday night with a convincing 86–56 victory over visiting Stanislaus State in The Kelp Bed.
In fact, CSUMB's three biggest wins over Division II opponents have all come this season in the three Otter home games. The Otters beat Notre Dame de namur 90–50 and Simon Fraser University 93–67 on Dec. 1 and Nov. 29 respectively. More importantly, the Otters (3–5, 1–1 CCAA) earned their first conference win of the season while handing Stanislaus (3–5, 2–1) its first conference loss.
Several Otters played starring roles Friday night.
Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) led all scorers with 19 points.
Mateo Jones (Victorville/Silverado HS) added 14 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS), meanwhile, moved 12 points closer to the Otter career scoring record with 12 points to go along with four assists. Fertig now trails Brandon Ward's Otter record of 1,231 by just 83 points.
The Otters never trailed and were never tied Friday. Jones got the Otter lead into permanent double digits barely eight minutes in with a pair of steals and thunderous fast-break dunks that forced a Stanislaus time out at 17–7.
On the ensuing Warrior possession
Patrick Lefiti (Bay Point/Los Medanos JC) stripped Christian Bayne of the ball and fed Jones for a third consecutive dunk to cap the 8–0 Otter run.
The Otters led by as many ass 22 points in the first half before settling on a 42–25 halftime lead. Stanislaus opened the second half with a 15–8 run that cut the Otter lead down to 50–40 with 13:18 remaining. But five different Otters scored in a quick 11–2 spurt that got the advantage back to 19 points and removed all doubt from the final 11 minutes of regulation.
CSUMB will close the 2015 calendar year Sunday by hosting No. 5 ranked Cal Poly Pomona for a 3 p.m. tipoff.
GO OTTERS!
