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SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of The Kelp Bed to play its final nonconference game of 2012 when it hosts PacWest Conference rival Academy of Art Saturday (Dec. 5) at 3 p.m.

For ticket information visit the Ticket Information page at OtterAthletics.com.

Fans can listen live on KRXA 540 AM or  listen and watch live online at OtterAthletics.com. Rob Ponce will call the play-by-play with former Otter Ian Hosford handling the color duties.

Click the Gameday Central link for complete pregame, in-game and postgame coverage.

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SCOUTING THE URBAN KNIGHTS: After losing five of their first six games, the Urban Knights picked up their first conference win by defeating Holy Names University, 72–55, behind 18 points and eight rebounds from Akil Johnson. ArtU's other win was a 77–75 victory over Cal State East Bay on Nov. 17. Like the Otters, the Urban Knights are still looking for their first road win of the season. Junior guard Czar Robotham leads four Urban Knights averaging in double figures at 15.1 points per game. Senior guard Ameer Shamsud–din adds 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and a team–high 4.0 assists per game.

WHEN LAST WE MET: A pair of Brandon Ward (Riverside/Woodcrest HS) free throws gave the Otters the lead seven and a half minutes into the game and CSUMB never trailed again en route to a 76–62 in Kezar Pavilion on Dec. 8, 2010. Davion Berry came off the bench to lead the Otters with 23 points while Ward poured in 13 and a career–high three steals. William Overton led the Urban Knights with 32 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages, trimming a 23–point deficit with less than seven minutes remaining to three in an eventual 85–82 loss at Cal State East Bay last Saturday night. Freshman guard Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) led all scorers with 22 points, his third 20–point game of the season.

START ME UP: With his start Dec. 6 at Holy Names, Brandon Ward broke the CSUMB record for career starts with 77. He passed Joe Mitchell at 76 career starts. Senior forward Derrick Anderson (Pittsburg HS) is also well within reach of the record, entering Saturday's game No. 4 on the list with 70 starts.

ANOTHER MITCHELL MARK IN HIS SIGHTS: The Otters have 20 games left in the regular season. Should Brandon Ward appear in all of them, he will have 107 career appearances, one behind Joe Mitchell's CSUMB record. He can break the record if the Otters earn a postseason berth.

20 POINTS TO HISTORY: With 20 points Saturday against Academy of Art, Alex Fertig would become just the fourth Otter (and the first Otter freshman) to score 20 or more points in four of the first 10 games of a season. Davion Berry did it five times in 2010–11 (games 2, 4, 6, 9 and 10). The only other Otters to accomplish that feat have been Devoughn Lamont (games 1, 2, 4 and 7 of 2005–06) and Steve Monreal (games 1, 2, 8 and 10 of 2008–09).

THE CHILIAD CLUB: Brandon Ward began the season knocking on the door of CSUMB's exclusive Chiliad Club. His 19 points Nov. 11 versus Pacifica vaulted him from ninth to seventh place with 859 career points. He needs 63 to become the fourth player in Otter history to score 1,000 career points. Matt Dalhamer owns the CSUMB career record with 1,075 points from 1999–2001.

BRRRRRR: Brandon Ward suffered through an unusually cold scoring night at Cal State East Bay on Saturday. He went 0–for–7 from the floor and finished with just two points. It was his lowest scoring output since being held to two points against San Francisco State on Nov. 21, 2010, a span of 59 games. In case you're wondering, Ward has been held scoreless just once in his collegiate career . UC San Diego shut him out during his freshman season on Feb. 20, 2010.

FRONTRUNNERS: When the Otters took a 31–24 lead into the lockerroom at San Francisco State last Saturday, it marked the first time they had led at the half in a CCAA contest since they led Sonoma State 44–32 on Feb. 18, 2011. That's a span of 28 games.

LARGE MARGINS, HOME EDITION: The season–opening 104–52 win over Pacifica University set a CSUMB record for largest margin of victory (52 points) in an Otter home win. Last night, CSUMB's 78–58 win over Colorado Christian was the largest margin of victory in a road game during the Road Bishop era at CSUMB. The previous record was 19 points in an 83–64 win at Cal State East Bay on Feb. 3, 2011.

LARGE MARGINS, ROAD EDITION: Nov. 16th's 78–58 win over Colorado Christian was the largest margin of victory (20 points) in a road game in the Rob Bishop era of Otter basketball.

THE WARD GIVETH… Brandon Ward's two assists last Saturday at Cal State East Bay give him 215 career assists, good for No. 2 in the CSUMB record book. D'Shon Cannon owns the top spot with 371 assists from 2006–08.

…AND THE WARD TAKETH AWAY: Brandon Ward continues his quest for the CSUMB career steals record, entering the Academy of Art game in the No. 5 spot with 76 steals. Next up in fourth place is Steve Monreal with 79 steals. Joe Mitchell holds the record with 91 steals.

WORKING OVERTIME: One area where the Otters have excelled in the Rob Bishop Era is in overtime. CSUMB was 2–0 in overtime during the 2011–12 season and 6–1 overall when playing bonus basketball under Bishop.

NOW THAT'S SMARTS: After leading the conference with three members of the CCAA All–Academic team in 2011, the Otter men's basketball team built on that success by placing four players on that team in 2012: James Albert, Geoff McIntosh, Brandon Ward and Troy Watkins. CSUMB's seven CCAA All–Academic team members over the last two seasons are tops among the 12 conference schools. Ward, in fact, is a three–year member of the CCAA All–Academic team.

FERTIG NAMED TO ALL–TOURNAMENT TEAM: Freshman guard Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) picked up the first piece of hardware for the Otters this season, earning All–Tournament recognition at the GCI Alaska Invitational. He averaged 18.7 points per game over the weekend, including CSUMB's first 20–point games of the season with 24 vs. Colorado Christian and 21 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State.

SIT THIS ONE OUT: Freshman Tim Darkwa and junior Rafael Morelos will practice with the team but are expected to redshirt the 2012–13 season.