Men's Basketball | February 08, 2017

GAMEDAY CENTRAL  |  FULL NOTEBOOK (PDF)

SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team returns to The Kelp Bed to host CCAA title contenders San Francisco State Friday (Feb. 10) and Sonoma State Saturday (Feb. 11). Both games tipoff at 7:30 p.m. as the nightcaps of men's/women's doubleheader action.

Fans who can't make it to The Kelp Bed can follow the action online and over the air as usual. Rob Ponce and Alex Hudson will have the radio calls on KION 101.1 FM while Kevin Richardson has the mike for the telecast (Ch. 73 and OtterAthletics.com).

Choose the Gameday Central link for more details.

This will be CSUMB's only meeting of the season vs. San Francisco State. The Otters and Gators split a pair of games last season. CSUMB fell at Sonoma State in their first meeting of the season back on Dec. 10.
 

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GATOR 3–DOT NOTES (18–3, 10–3 CCAA): The Gators are enjoying arguably the finest season in school history, bringing an 18–3 record and a No. 18 national ranking into Friday's game…are coming off a big 65–51 win over Chico State that knocked the Wildcats out of the Top 25…Jr./G Warren Jackson tops the SFSU scoring (15.6 ppg) and assist (4.0 apg) charts…former Otter Sr./G Coley Apsay adds 12.7 ppg and 3.2 apg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: SFSU opened a 15–point lead early in the second half and the Otters couldn't get closer than six the rest of the way as the Gators avenged an early–season loss to MB with an 85–79 win in The Swamp on Jan. 23, 2016. Evan Zeller and Ryan Nitz led the Otters with 21 and 20 points respectively, but Alex Fertig stole the show by becoming CSUMB's all–time leading scorer during his 13–point performance that evening.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters rallied from eight points down inside the final two minutes to tie the game but San Bernardino scored late to pull out a 64–60 win in Coussoulis Arena. Junior guard Jonquis Bouyea led the way for MB with a career–high 18 points.

THE GAME WAS STATISTICALLY OVER WHEN… Eli Brown hit a pair of free throws with two seconds remaining to account for the final margin.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: February 10th has been a tough date for the Otters, who have dropped four consecutive decisions on the date going back to the 2005–06 season. CSUMB's only Feb. 10th win was a 64–53 victory over Pacific Union College on Feb. 10, 2003.

WELCOME BACK (OR THE MAGNIFICENT 7)… The Otters welcomed back freshman guard Jahvon Johnson to the fold from injury, bringing the active roster to seven players last weekend. Johnson jumped right into the fire, playing a total of 48 minutes.

BOO YAH FOR BOUYEA: The 18–point night by Jonquis Bouyea eclipsed his 15–point effort versus UC San Diego on Jan. 5 as the top scoring game of his career. It marked the third time he has scored in double figures this season.

TAKE THEM, THEY'RE FREE… The Otters set a school record for free–throw percentage in a game Jan. 20th at CSUDH, making 17–of–19 (.895). The previous mark of .857 (18–21) came against UCSD earlier this season (Jan. 5, 2017).

…EXCEPT WHEN THEY'RE RARE: Of course, free throws become exceptionally valuable when they are as rare as they were Saturday night in San Bernardino. CSUMB shot a season–low four freebies against the Coyotes (who shot 21). The four attempts tied the CSUMB record for fewest FTA in a game, first set at Metro State on Dec. 18, 2004.

AMONG THE CCAA LEADERS: Julien Ducree entered the weekend as the highest ranked Otter on the CCAA statistical boards checking in at No. 5 on the rebounding chart at 7.9 rpg. Ducree ranks No. 6 (1.2) and Gregg Polosky are No. 10 (0.9)  on the blocks chart. Kevin Warren is CSUMB highest ranked scorer at 12.3 ppg (No. 19). 

WHY PLAY 40 MINUTES? The final five minutes of games have been all but irrelevant for the Otter men's and women's basketball teams this season. The Otter men are 3–0 when leading after 35 minutes and 0–18 when trailing after 35 minutes. The women, meanwhile, are 5–0 when leading after 35 and 0–16 when trailing after 35.

WE LOVE THE 80s: The 80s have usually been incredibly friendly territory for the Otters under Rob Bishop. The Nov. 12th 93–87 loss to Central Washington snapped a 7–game win streak when the Otters scored 80+ in regulation. CSUMB is 30–5 (.857) 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 74–41 loss at UC San Diego, the Otters are now 0–51 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.