OTTERS vs. TOROS HIGHLIGHTSSEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball seniors made a statement in their final regular season appearances in The Kelp Bed Friday night, leading the Otters to a 99–76 win over visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills. The statement they made was that they wanted one more home game.
The win—combined with a Humboldt State loss at Chico State Saturday night— keeps CSUMB (13–12, 11–8 CCAA) in the hunt for a top four seed and a home game in the opening round of the CCAA Championship Tournament. To earn that right, the Otters must win at East Bay next week while Humboldt loses at home to San Marcos, who will enter the week one–half game ahead of the Otters and Lumberjacks in the CCAA standings.
All of the Otter seniors came up big, combining for 72 of the team's 99 points, 14 of its 20 assists and 21 of its 43 rebounds.
Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga HS) led that group by just missing his second consecutive double–double with team highs of 20 points and nine rebounds.
Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) chipped in 19 points and two steals, adding to his CSUMB career records in both categories.
The senior backcourt tandem of
Patrick Lefiti (Bay Point/Los Medanos College) and
Devin Murphy (Sacramento/Sierra College) scored 13 points apiece, combining to shoot 8-of-12 from the field (including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc). Lefiti added a career–high eight assists.
As the final score would indicate, the game was never in doubt. Lefiti's first 3–pointer got the lead to permanent double digits at 21–10 less than seven minutes into the game. Three minutes later, a
Gregg Polosky (Danville/San Ramon Valley HS) layup got the lead over 20 and the rout was on.
The Otters led 58–25 at the half, but, to the Toros' credit, they didn't roll over after the break. CSUDH chipped away steadily and got the deficit all the way down to 15 inside the final 10 minutes before their comeback ran out of steam.
CSUMB heads to Hayward for its final regular season game at Cal State East Bay on Saturday, Feb. 27. The first round of the CCAA Tournament will take place Tuesday Mar. 1 at a site to be determined.
GO OTTERS!
