Men's Basketball | January 05, 2016
SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team Will look to make an early move in the CCAA standings when it heads to Southern California for the second time this season, this time to face Cal State Dominguez Hills Thursday (Jan. 7) and Cal State San Marcos Saturday (Jan. 9).
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. Free live stats and video will be available on
GoToros.com (Thursday) and
CSUSMCougars.com (Saturday).
TORO 3–DOT NOTES (7–6, 1–4 CCAA): The Toros are improving under the leadership of former Otter player Steve Becker, having already matched last season's win total…opened CCAA play with a brutal stretch that included losses to nationally–ranked Cal Poly, UCSD and Chico…lone CCAA win came over struggling San Bernardino on Dec. 19…Sr./G Ivan Dooley leads four Toros averaging in double figures at 16.2 ppg…Sr./F Justin Sadler adds 13.9 ppg and a team–best 8.1 rpg.
SOMETHING IN COMMON: The Otters and Toros have identical results against three common opponents so far this season. Both teams beat Stanislaus State while falling to Cal Poly Pomona and UCSD.
WHEN LAST WE MET: Following eight lead changes in the second half alone, the Otters needed bonus basketball to defeat the Toros 74–69 in The Torodome on Feb. 13, 2015.
Marquise Washington made a pair of clutch free throws with 27 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime. A Washington layup to start overtime gave the Otters a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Greg Anderson led the Otters with 20 points while Washington added a career–high 16.
WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters picked up a key CCAA win with a 65–64 decision over San Francisco State. The teams played through five ties and nine lead change before an
Evan Zeller 3–pointer gave MB the lead for good with 3:28 to play. Zeller led the way with 17 points.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters will be looking for their first January 7 victory since defeating San Francisco State on Jan. 7, 2005. They are 1–3 all time on the date.
ON THE BLOCKS: The Otters are blocking shots at a near record pace. Averaging 3.9 bpg, they are in line for 102 blocks in the regular season alone. The MB record is 109 blocks set in 2005–06.
ON THE BLOCKS II: Although the season is only 11 games old,
Gregg Polosky's 15 blocked shots already rank No. 12 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 36 blocks this season.
LARGE MARGINS: Two days after equalling the Otter record for largest margin of victory over an NCAA Division II opponent in the 26–point win (93–67) over Simon Fraser on Nov. 29, the Otters blew that record out of the water by defeating NDNU by 40 points (90–50) two days later. Adding the 86–56 win over Stanislaus into the equation, CSUMB's three biggest wins over NCAA Division II opponents all came in the first three home games.
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. MB is 25–4 all–time under Bishop when scoring at least 80 in regulation. Not to worry, though. Things returned to their natural order and the current streak in such games now stands at three wins.
TWIN "TOWERS": They aren't the two tallest players on the Otter roster, but
Ryan Nitz and
Alex Fertig acted like it in Saturday's win over San Francisco State. Nitz grabbed a career–high 12 rebounds and Fertig pulled down a career–high 10 of his own. Nitz added 14 points for his first collegiate double–double (and first Otter DD of the season) while Fertig just missed his first with nine points.
GRAND LARCENY: With three steals last weekend,
Alex Fertig moved to within one steal of Joe Mitchell's CSUMB record 91 steals.
BOMBS AWAY: Evan Zeller continues to close in on CSUMB's all–time record for 3–pointers with four more versus San Francisco State last week. Zeller enters Thursday's game with 124 treys. Augie Johnston owns the MB career record with 137 (2005–08).
P MINUS 62 AND COUNTING: Last weekend,
Alex Fertig moved to within 62 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.
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 72–57 loss to Sonoma State last week, the Otters are now 0–45 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 (drum roll please), their 50–47 win over Cal Poly on Nov. 18, 2010.
GO OTTERS!
