SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team will play to give itself an early Christmas present this year when it closes the 2013 calendar season by hosting Cal State East Bay in the return game of thier home-and-home series on Saturday (Dec. 21) at 7:30 p.m.

East Bay took the first meeting, 76-61, last Saturday in Hayward. However, the last time these teams met in The Kelp Bed, the Otters the biggest rout of their brief NCAA Division II history by cruising past the Pioneer, 98-72, last December.

Fans who can't make the game can follow all of the action with live video, audio and stats at www.OtterAthletics.com. Fans in the Monterey Bay area can also listen live on KION 1460 AM/101.1 FM. Rob Ponce will handle the play-by-play duties while former CSUMB assistant coach Alex Hudson calls the color.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS (5–4, 2–1 CCAA): After opening the season 1–3, the Pioneers have found traction recently, winning three of their last four. Believe it or not, East Bay has yet to play a true road game: the Pioneers are 4–2 at home and 1–2 on neutral courts. Senior guard Gabe Kindred, who finished in the top 20 in CCAA scoring last season, leads four Pioneers averaging in double figures at 19.7 ppg. Senior guard Mark Samuels, who had a 26–point night in a loss to Dominican University, follows at 13.4 ppg. Rebounding has been an Achilles' Heel for East Bay, with the Pioneers being out–rebounded by 5.0 rpg. Ryan Hebebrand leads the East Bay boardmen at 6.4 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: CSUMB's cold shooting streak reached new lows (see below) as East Bay needed just two minutes of second–half action to turn a 4–point (32–28) halftime lead into a double–digit advantage that the Otters wouldn't challenge for the duration. Junior forward Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga(Chaffey College) led the way with team season highs of 26 points and five steals. Gabe Kindred went a perfect 16–of–16 from the line as part of his game–high 28 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, OTTER EDITION: CSUMB's last game was at East Bay (see above).

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, PIONEER EDITION: The Pioneers took a quick detour from conference play to host Menlo College Dec. 16. The Oaks stayed within seven (38–31) at the break, but East Bay opened its lead to as many as 21 points in the second half before settling on a 75–61 final. Gabe Kindred led a top–heavy attack with 18 points while Jacari Whitfield passed for nine assists.

LARGE MARGIN: CSUMB's 98–72 (26–point) win over Cal State East Bay last season in The Kelp Bed represents the largest margin of victory in the Rob Bishop (@CoachR_Bishop) era of Otter basketball. It's also CSUMB largest margin of victory ever against an NCAA Division II opponent.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters have never played a game on Dec. 21. The last time they played on Dec. 20, they defeated Notre Dame de Namur in The Kelp Bed, 86–70, in 2008. Steve Monreal led the Otters by passing for nine assists in the win. No Otter has passed for as many assists in a game since that night.

NITZ IN RAREFIED AIR: Junior swingman Ryan Nitz lifted his season scoring average to 20.2 points per game with last week's 26–point effort at East Bay. That also vaulted Nitz to the No. 3 spot on the latest CCAA men's basketball scoring ladder. Nitz trails only Quinton Watkins of Cal State L.A (21.8) and Nefi Perdomo of San Francisco State (20.3). He also ranks No. 3 in the CCAA in steals (1.8 spg) and No. 4 in 3–point percentage (48.4).

ICE, ICE BABY: Otter shooters have been cold in recent games, but they went absolutely arctic last Saturday in Hayward. The Otters shot season–lows of 30.2 percent from the floor (19–of–63) and 17.6 percent from beyond the arc (3–of–17). Take a solid night from Ryan Nitz (10–of–16, 2–of–5) from those equations and the numbers plummet to 19.1 percent and 8 percent respectively.

BABY, IT'S COLD INSIDE: Thanks to a 7–35 (20 percent) stretch shooting from long range CCAA opening weekend, the Otters are now just 14–of–54 (25.9 percent) from beyond the arc at home this season. Even including the cold night at East Bay, CSUMB is converting a respectable 37.0 percent (20–of–54) of its 3–point attempts on the road.

THE FERTIG 400: It might not happen overnight, but all–time leading scorer Brandon Ward may soon find himself looking over his shoulder at Alex Fertig chasing him up the scoring leaderboard. Fertig's 13 points at Cal State East Bay pushed him to 476 points. Despite playing just one season plus six games, he just passed Jared Jungworth (467) and Jon Breazeal (469) for 19th place on the CSUMB career scoring list. Next up is Darryl Anderson, is No. 18 with 510 points.

THE FERTIG 500: With 25 points Saturday against Cal State East Bay, Alex Fertig would match Davion Berry as the fastest to 500 points in Otter history. Berry used a 25–point effort at San Francisco State on Jan. 4, 2011 to reach 500 career points (503) in his 36th Otter appearance.

TAKE THEM, THEY'RE FREE: It's only six games into the season, but the Otters are shooting free throws at an historically dismal pace. CSUMB enters the weekend converting just 61.87 percent (99–160) from the stripe. The record low for Otter free–throw shooting came when the 2003–04 attempted a school–record 688 free throws but made only 426, a rate of 61.9 percent.

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: Although it hasn't resulted in any Ws, the Otters have done a much better job of taking care of the rock in their last four games, including games 13, 12 and 12 turnovers—their three lowest totals of the season. By contrast, the 2012–13 Otters didn't get under 13 turnovers until the 11th game of the season.

SO CLOSE… The Otters just missed scoring their most points in a regulation conference game during the Rob Bishop era by hanging 98 points on Cal State East Bay last Dec. 30. The high water mark is 99 points in a 99–88 win at Cal State Stanislaus on Jan. 30, 2009. The 98 points were the third most scored in a regulation CCAA game in Otter history, trailing only the aforementioned game at Stanislaus and 107 points (also at Stanislaus) on Jan. 19, 2007.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: By scoring 180 points versus Academy of Art (82) and Cal State East Bay (98) on Dec. 15 & 30, 2012 the Otters set a school record for points in consecutive regulation wins over NCAA Division II competition. The 2006–07 Otters scored 188 points in consecutive games versus Chico State (99) and Cal State Stanislaus (89), but fell in the Stanislaus game, 96–89.

GO OTTERS!