Men's Basketball | January 03, 2018

SEASIDE, Calif. — A chance to gain some ground in the CCAA race awaits the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team as Stanislaus State makes its annual visit to The Kelp Bed Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tip. With a win, the Otters would pull to within a game of the Warriors, who currently rest in fifth place on the CCAA table.

Fans who can't make it to The Kelp Bed to catch Thursday game can follow all of the action in the usual ways. The game will be carried live locally on Ch. 73 and over the internet at www.OtterAthletics.com/watch. Fans can listen locally on KION 101.1 FM and on the internet via KION's iHeartRadio stream. Kevin Richardson has the television call while Rob Ponce and Alex Hudson will call the radio play-by-play. Live stats will be available on OtterAthletics.com as always.
 

---

WARRIOR 3–DOT NOTES (9–5, 5–4 CCAA): The Warriors started the season on fire before dropping their last three games…it's noteworthy that those losses came to Seattle Pacific, San Marcos and UCSD (all NCAA regional contenders)…Stanislaus takes care of the ball, ranking No. 3 in the CCAA in turnover margin (+37) and No. 4 in assist-TO ratio (1.12)…Andy Cleaves (Jr./G) leads the offense at 13.9 ppg…Xavier Francios (Jr./F) is the team's top rebounder at 5.1 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters played one of their most complete games of the season to hand Stanislaus a 66–56 defeat in the penultimate game of last season for both teams. Kevin Warren led all scorers with 20 points for CSUMB. Jaelen Ragsdale scored 17 for the Warriors.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters put themselves in position to earn their first–ever road victory over San Bernardino before turning the ball over on four consecutive possessions in the final three minutes to allow the Coyotes to escape 77–68. Josh Kollman came off the bench to lead a balanced offensive effort with 15 points. 

THE GAME WAS STATISTICALLY OVER WHEN… Blake McBride grabbed a missed 3–point attempt by Mateo Jones with the Coyotes leading 77–68 and 33 seconds remaining.

FREE THROWS ARE COSTLY, AGAIN… After shooting a season–low 33 percent from the line the previous night at Cal Poly Pomona, the Otters improved to a perfect 1.000 at San Bernardino. Unfortunately, they also attempted a school–record low two free throws in the entire game. San Bernardino went 10-for-14 from the line, accounting for the 8–point final margin.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: CSUMB passed 26 assists—then the No. 5 mark in Otter history—in an 89–68 win over Wentworth Tech on Jan. 4, 2002.

WELCOME ABOARD ISAAC WILLIAMS: Isaac Williams comes to CSUMB after posting a 120–41 record in five seasons as head coach at Eastern Oregon University. He replaced Rob Bishop, who went 86–157 in nine seasons with the Otters. Williams led EOU to a 24–9 record and the second round of the NAIA Championship Tournament in 2016–17.

A COOPERATIVE EFFORT: While Paul Trevor came to the Warrior bench after leading San Francisco State to its most successful season ever (25–7) in 2017, he is serving as co-head coach this year with Larry Reynolds, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease last year after eight seasons at the Warrior helm.

A JJ SIX PACK… Jahvon Johnson ran his streak of scoring in double figures to six consecutive games with Saturday's 13–point effort. Its the first time in his career he has put together a 6–game streak. He is the first Otter to do it since Ryan Nitz reached double figures in 18 consecutive games from Nov. 21, 2015 through Feb. 6, 2016.

BACK ON THE BLOCKS… After going consecutive games without one, CSUMB's all–time blocks leader Gregg Polosky got back on the blocks Saturday night by rejecting Cal State San Bernardino five times. That is one off his CSUMB record of six blocks in a game set at Point Loma University on Nov. 19, 2016. He increased his CSUMB career record for blocks to 76.

AMONG THE CCAA LEADERS: Mateo Jones enters the week ranked No. 2 the CCAA in rebounding (9.0 rpg) and No. 5 in steals (1.8 spg). Other Otters among the leaders include: FG Pct.: Jahvon Johnson (No.2, .552); BLOCKS: Gregg Polosky (No. 6, 1.2 bpg); REBOUNDING: Gregg Polosky (No. 8, 7.1 rpg); SCORING: Jahvon Johnson (No. 12, 13.9 ppg); 3-pt FG pct.: Josh Kollman (No. 4, .425); 3-pt FG per game: Josh Kollman (No. 2, 3.1/g), Koen Sapwell (No. 10, 2.2/g).

WORKING OVERTIME: CSUMB's OT win at UCSD on Dec. 8 was its third overtime game of the season. That matches its most overtime games since the Otters played a school–record four such contests in 2006–07.

60 SHALL BE THE NUMBER, NO LESS—NO MORE! The 55–54 win at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Nov. 18 snapped a 53–game run in which the Otters hadn't won while scoring few than 60 points in NCAA Division II play. The streak dated back to the 2004–05 season, their first at the NCAA Division II level. Prior to Saturday's win, 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.

WE LOVE THE 80s: The 80s have usually been incredibly friendly territory for the Otters in recent history. The Nov. 10th 93–87 loss to Central Washington last season snapped a 7–game win streak when the Otters scored 80+ in regulation. CSUMB is 41–5 (.889) in its last 46 games when scoring at least 80 in regulation dating to the 2007–08 season.