Men's Basketball | February 24, 2016
FULL NOTEBOOK (PDF)SEASIDE, Calif. — Call it the end of the beginning. The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team concludes regular season play Saturday night when it travels to Hayward the second "Battle of the Bays" this season at Cal State East Bay. It's a game that could have significant postseason significance (see below) for the Otters. East Bay will be trying to go out on a winning note while denying the Otters a chance at a home playoff game.
Rob Ponce will call the action for both games live from courtside on KION 101.1 FM. Live stats and video will be available at www.EastBayPioneers.com.
PIONEER 3–DOT NOTES (9–17, 5–14 CCAA): The Pioneers have given some solid performances but yet to put together consecutive wins this season…in fact, every win since Dec. 12 has been followed by at least two losses…signature win was a 77–75 OT victory at San Francisco State on Jan. 22…Jr./G Jalen Richard, a transfer from Santa Clara, leads the offense at 16.0 ppg (No. 5 CCAA).
WHEN LAST WE MET: East Bay led for more than 15 minutes in the first half, but a career–high 33 points from
Ryan Nitz was too much for the Pioneers to handle in an 81–69 Otter win in The Kelp Bed on Jan. 26. A Nitz jumper on the opening possession of the second half gave the Otters a 35–33 lead and they never looked back.
WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters played one of their best halves ever against an NCAA opponents, blitzing Cal State Dominguez Hills with a 58–point first half en route to a 99–76 victory in The Kelp Bed last Saturday. MB got 20 points from
Ryan Nitz, 19 from
Alex Fertig and career highs of 13 from
Patrick Lefiti and 12 from
Gregg Polosky.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Playing in their second ever postseason game, the Otters defeated Cal State Hayward (now East Bay) 72–70 in the NAIA Division II Regional Final in Pioneer Gym on Feb. 27, 1999.
YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE DANCING: For the third time in the program's NCAA history (and the second time under
Rob Bishop) the Otters will be playing in the postseason when they take part in the CCAA Championship Tournament beginning March 1 at a site TBA. The Otters last advanced to the postseason in 2009, when they reached the CCAA Championship game before falling to host Cal State San Bernardino 80–78 on Mar. 7, 2009.
POSSIBLE PLAYOFF PERMUTATIONS: The two simplest scenarios for the Otters are this: If Humboldt beats San Marcos Thursday night, the Otters travel to Arcata. If Humboldt loses and the Otters beat East Bay, the Otters will be home against either Humboldt State or San Francisco State.
ANOTHER 1(4) BITES THE DUST: For the second time this season, the Otters knocked off a team ranked No. 14 or higher in the NABC NCAA Division II rankings when they beat Cal Poly Pomona 67–65 last weekend. MB defeated No. 13 UCSD 71–60 on Jan. 16.
DOUBLE RANKED WINS: With two wins over nationally–ranked opponents (No. 13 UCSD and No. 14 Cal Poly), the Otters have defeated at least two nationally–ranked teams in the same season for the second time in three seasons. The 2013–14 Otters defeated No. 25 Chico State 73–72 and No. 18 Cal Poly Pomona (60–57) with both of those wins coming on the road.
LARGE MARGINS: The 97–65 (32–point) win over San Marcos was CSUMB's second–biggest margin over an NCAA Division II opponent. The biggest came on Dec. 1 when the Otters defeated NDNU by 40 points (90–50). Adding the 86–56 win over Stanislaus (Dec. 11) and a 93–67 win over Simon Fraser (Nov. 29) into the equation, CSUMB's four biggest wins over NCAA Division II opponents have all come this season.
RUN AND GUN AND HAVE SOME FUN: The 99 points scored in Saturday's win over Dominguez Hills matched the most ever in regulation against an NCAA Division II opponent. CSUMB defeated Cal State Stanislaus 99–88 on Jan. 30, 2009.
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 seven wins. MB is 30–4 all–time under Bishop when scoring at least 80 in regulation.
ON THE BLOCKS, TEAM RECORD PACE EDITION: The Otters entered the weekend No. 2 in the CCAA with 97 blocks (3.9 bpg). They are in line for 101 blocks in the regular season alone. The MB record is 109 blocks set in 2005–06.
ON THE BLOCKS, INDIVIDUAL RECORD PACE EDITION: With five games remaining in the regular season,
Gregg Polosky's 36 blocked shots already rank No. 4 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 37.
DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU: In terms of active players,
Alex Fertig (1,351 points) has a 457 point lead over
Evan Zeller in the Otter career scoring race. Zeller currently sits in 9th place with 894 points. He needs 52 points to catch D'Shon Cannon for the No. 8 spot.
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.
GO OTTERS!
