Men's Basketball | February 29, 2016
SEASIDE, Calif. — The next step in the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball season happens Tuesday when the Otters meet Humboldt State in the opening round of the CCAA Championship Tournament at Lumberjack Arena Tuesday (Mar. 1) in Arcata. No. 5 seed CSUMB and No. 4 seed Humboldt State enter with identical 12-8 conference records but Humboldt won the tiebreaker and the right to host Tuesday game thanks to its 87-76 win over the Otters in Arcata on Feb. 13.
The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the CCAA final four to take on the winner of No. 1 seed Chico State (16-4) and No. 8 seed Cal State L.A. (9-11). That game will take place Friday (Mar. 4) at Stockton Arena, which will host all of the CCAA men's and women's final four games.
The other half of the CCAA men's bracket includes No. 7 Sonoma State (9-11) at No. 2 UC San Diego (15-5) and No. 6 San Francisco State (10-10) at No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona (14-6).
Rob Ponce will call the action for Tuesday's game live from courtside on KION 101.1 FM. Live stats and video will be available at www.HSUJack.com.
| CCAA QUARTERFINAL at HUMBOLDT STATE |
|---|
| Date: Tuesday, March 1 (7:00 p.m.) |
| Location: Arcata, Calif. |
| Arena: Lumberjack Arena (1,850) |
| TV: None |
| Radio: KION 101.1 FM (On Air: Rob Ponce) |
| Live Video Stream: HSUJacks.com |
| Live Stats: HSUJacks.com |
LUMBERJACKS 3–DOT NOTES (18–8, 12–8 CCAA): The Pioneers will be appearing in the CCAA Tournament for the sixth time in eight seasons since the conference re–instituted the championship tournament format in 2008…they are 7–4 in CCAA Tournament competition, winning the title 2012…Sr./F Rakim Brown leads the team and ranks No. 2 in the CCAA in scoring a 18.1 ppg…he also ranks No. 2 on the conference rebounding chart at 9.0 rpg…Sr./F Thomas Witzel (14.7 ppg) and So./G Malik Morgan (13.8 ppg) also score in double figures for the Jacks.
WHEN LAST WE MET: At the end of a long roadtrip—which had seen the Otters beat No. 14 Cal Poly Pomona two nights earlier—the Otters simply ran out of gas down the stretch as Humboldt pulled away late for an 87–76 win in Lumberjack Arena on Feb. 13. Humboldt took the lead for good at 69–68 on a Will Taylor layup with 10:59 remaining. The Otters had three chances to retake the lead in the final seven minutes, but couldn't get over the hump.
Ryan Nitz led the Otters with 24 points while Thomas Witzel also had 24 for Humboldt.
WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters overcame a sluggish start on senior night in Pioneer Gym to topple Cal State East Bay 75–65 Saturday night. CSUMB rallied from seven down to take a 31–30 lead at the break before opening the second half with an 8–0 run. The Otters never looked back.
Ryan Nitz led a quartet of Otters in double figures with 13 points.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters made their first–ever appearance in a national tournament on Mar. 1, 1999, falling to Cardinal Stritch University 95–68 in the opening round of the NAIA Division II National Championship. The Otters had defeated Menlo College and Cal State Hayward in the NAIA Regional to advance to that point.
YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE DANCING: Tuesday's game at Humboldt will mark the third time in the program's NCAA history the Otters will be playing in the postseason.
OTTERS vs. THE TOURNAMENT FIELD: The Otters went 4-7 vs. the CCAA Tournament Field this season. Their results were:
POSTSEASON NUMBERS: The Otters are 5–6 all–time in postseason play…they are 2–2 in the CCAA Tournament (2008 and 2009)…their two CCAA Tournament losses came by a combined total of five points…the Otters advanced to the CCAA Tournament championship game in 2009 where they fell at host Cal State San Bernardino 80–78.
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.
SHOOTOUT IN LUMBERJACK ARENA: Not only will Tuesday's game feature the two highest scoring teams in the CCAA—Humboldt (84.4 ppg) and CSUMB (76.0 ppg)—it also will feature to two leading scorers.
Ryan Nitz leads the CCAA at 19.3 ppg while Rakim Brown follows at 18.1 ppg.
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 enter the week No. 2 in the CCAA with 102 blocks (3.9 bpg). They are in line for 106 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 regular season concluded,
Gregg Polosky's 38 blocked shots already rank No. 3 on the Otter single season list. Bill Curry set the Otter season record of 40 blocks during the 2000–01 season.
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!
