Men's Basketball | January 19, 2016
FULL NOTEBOOK (PDF)SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team hits the road to begin the second half of its CCAA schedule with a pair in the other Bay area this weekend. The Otters will look for a little payback when the play at Sonoma State Friday (Jan. 22) before heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to take on San Francisco State Saturday (Jan. 23).
The Otters begin holding on to the No. 5 seed in the CCAA Tournament race (Cal State San Marcos is ineligible). They could move as high as third place with a pair of wins this weekend.
Tipoff for both games will be a 7:30 p.m. as the nightcaps of men's/women's doubleheader action. Rob Ponce will call both games live on KION 101.5 FM and the KION feed on iHeartRadio. Live video and live stats will be available both nights on
SonomaSeawolves.com and
SFStateGators.com.
SEAWOLF 3–DOT NOTES (9–6, 4–5 CCAA): Sonoma is coming off a tough 75–70 loss in double OT at No. 19 Chico State Saturday night…after hosting the Otters, the Seawolves get three consecutive games against teams with losing records in conference (East Bay, L.A., Dominguez)…Sr./G James Davis leads a top–heavy scoring chart at 14.1 ppg…fellow Sr./G David Ahern adds 10.3 ppg…no other Seawolf scores more than 7.3 ppg.
WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters got off to a quick start but Sonoma rallied just as quickly and led the entire second half en route to a 72–57 win in The Kelp Bed on New Year's Day.
Evan Zeller led all scorers with 18 points. James Davis led Sonoma with 17.
WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters raced to leads of 14–0 and 22–2 in a wire–to–wire win over No. 13 ranked UC San Diego Saturday in The Kelp Bed. Senior swingman
Ryan Nitz scored a career–high 31 points and freshman forward
Julien Ducree grabbed a career–high 11 rebounds to lead the way.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Andy Cannon set the Otter single game record with six blocked shots in a 73–68 win at Cal State Hayward (now East Bay) on Jan. 22, 2002.
Gregg Polosky tied that mark with six vs. St. Martin's on Nov. 21 of this season.
P MINUS 14 AND COUNTING: Last weekend,
Alex Fertig moved to within 14 points of Brandon Ward's Otter career record (1,231) set from 2010–13. At his current pace, he would break the record at San Francisco State on Jan. 23.
ON THE BLOCKS, OTTER RECORD EDITION: Already blocking shots at a school–record pace, the Otters took it to another level at San Marcos (Jan. 9), recording a school–record 12 blocks. They set previous record of nine blocks at Cal State Hayward on Jan. 22, 2002.
ON THE BLOCKS, TEAM RECORD PACE EDITION: The Otters entered the weekend No. 2 the CCAA (No. 43 nationally) with 65 blocks (4.3 bpg). They are in line for 112 blocks in the regular season alone. The MB record is 109 blocks set in 2005–06.
ON THE BLOCKS, INDIVIDUAL RECORD PACE EDITION: With the season at the halfway point,
Gregg Polosky's 20 blocked shots already rank No. 7 on the Otter single season list. Bill Curry set the Otter season record of 40 blocks during the 2000–01 season. Polosky is on pace for 35 blocks during the regular season.
GIANT KILLERS: Saturday's win over (then) No. 13 UC San Diego was CSUMB's first over a nationally ranked opponent since a 60–57 win at (then) No. 18 Cal Poly Pomona on Feb. 6, 2014. It marked the third time the Otters have beaten a Top 25 team under
Rob Bishop.
WE LOVE THE 80s: The 80s have usually been incredibly friendly territory for the Otters under
Rob Bishop. The 90–83 loss to Saint Martin's on Nov. 21 snapped a 5–game win streak when the Otters scored 80+ in regulation. Not to worry, though. Things returned to their natural order and the current streak in such games now stands at five wins, including last week's 93–81 win over San Bernardino. MB is 27–4 all–time under Bishop when scoring at least 80 in regulation.
60 SHALL BE THE NUMBER, NO LESS: With apologies to Monty Python, the number for the Otters shall be 60, not three. Following CSUMB's 66–59 loss at Cal Poly Pomona last season, the Otters are now 0–44 when scoring fewer than 60 points against NCAA Division II opponents dating back to the 2004–05 season, their first at the NCAA Division II level. The last time the Otters scored fewer than 60 points and beat a Division II foe was a 54–53 decision over Cal Poly Pomona in The Kelp Bed on Jan. 29, 2005.
The last time the Otters scored fewer than 60 points and beat any foe was their 50–47 win over Cal Poly on Nov. 18, 2010.
BOMBS AWAY: Despite missing both games last weekend,
Evan Zeller continues to close in on CSUMB's all–time record for 3–pointers. Zeller enters Fridays game with 129 treys. Augie Johnston owns the MB career record with 137 (2005–08) and Rocky Steryo is No. 2 at 134 (2001–02).
GO OTTERS!
