SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team begins the first of two 4-games road trips over the next five weeks with perhaps its biggest challenge when it meets No. 14 Cal State San Bernardino Friday (Jan. 10) in Coussoulis Arena. The Otters will be looking for their fifth win all-time versus the Coyotes and their first-ever win over the Coyotes in Coussoulis Arena.

As always, fans who can't make the trip may listen to the game live on www.OtterAthletics.com. Rob Ponce will call the action from courtside. Live stats will be available via www.CSUSBAthletics.com.

The Otters will conclude the Southern California swing of their roadtrip Saturday night at UC San Diego. They'll turn north the following weekend to face Cal State Stanislaus (Jan. 17) and Chico State (Jan. 18) before returning home to host San Francisco State on Jan. 24.

SCOUTING THE COYOTES (9–1, 6–0 CCAA, No. 14 NABC Top 25): The Coyotes lost a neutral site game to Washburn University (78–74) on opening day but have reeled off nine consecutive wins since then. They own a spotless CCAA record just past the quarter turn in conference play, though all were reasonably close games prior to last Saturday's 87–72 win over Stanislaus. San Bernardino can win with both its perimeter and inside games. Senior Lacy Haddock leads the guards with a 14.4 points per game. Monterey product Andrew Young, a transfer from MPC and Texas A&M, leads the post players at 15.4 ppg and a team–high 6.2 rebounds per game.

WHEN LAST WE MET: San Bernardino has owned the better of the all–time series, but the Otters can say they truly gave one away to the Coyotes when the teams last met. CSUMB led by as many as 20 points in the second half before San Bernardino rallied for an 84–82 win in Coussoulis Arena on Feb. 22, 2013. Brandon Ward led CSUMB with 23 points while Kevin Loustale grabbed a career–high 17 rebounds. Lacy Haddock led all scorers with 24 points for the Coyotes.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, OTTER EDITION: Simply put, the Otters didn't shoot well enough to unlock the Cal Poly Pomona zone, allowing the Broncos to pull away in the second half for a 60–40 victory in The Kelp Bed on Jan. 4. CSUMB gave its best defensive performance of the year and trailed just 21–20 at the half. But it converted just 4–of–23 from the field (17.4 pct.) after the break, allowing the Broncos to take the win. Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) led all scorers with 15 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, COYOTE EDITION: Led by former San Bernardino Head Coach Larry Reynolds, Stanislaus kept things interesting for 25 minutes before the Coyotes pounced midway through the second half and rolled to an 87–72 win in Coussoulis Arena on Jan. 4. Only seven Coyotes scored in the game, but five of them reached double figures, led by Lacy Haddock with 28 points. Andrew Young added a 14–point, 10–rebound double–double.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Friday's game will be the first Jan. 10 appearance for the Otters since they rallied from a 17–point deficit to take a 76–72 decision at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Jan. 10, 2009. Joe Mitchell led four Otters in double figures with 14 points.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Otter are embarking on the first of two 4–game road trips over the next five weeks, its longest trips of the season. After returning home to host San Francisco State and Sonoma State (Jan. 24–25), they leave again for two more weeks before returning to The Kelp Bed for their final homestand of 2013–14 (Feb. 14–22). The Otters are 1–2 in three road appearances so far this season.

NIFTY FIFTY: Head Coach Rob Bishop (@Coach_RBishop) enters the week needing one win for his 50th career victory.

DOUBLE THE FUN: Not only did last Friday's 18–point, 11–rebound effort earn Greg Anderson his first double–double as an Otter, it marked the first double–double of the season for any Otter.

DOUBLING DOWN: Senior post player Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College) joined Anderson as the first Otters to rebound in double figures this season by pulling down a career–high 14 boards in last night's win over Humboldt State. They were the most rebounds by any Otter since Kevin Loustale pulled down 17 boards at Cal State San Bernardino on Feb. 22, 2013.

No. 18 WITH A BULLET: Alex Fertig continues to shoot up the CSUMB career scoring chart. His 15 points Saturday versus Cal Poly Pomona raised his career total to 518, moving him past Darryl Anderson (510) into 18th place. Next up for Fertig are No. 17 Will Brown (537) and No. 16 Dante Green (538). At his current pace, Fertig would end his sophomore season ranked No. 10 in Otter history.

SECOND TO 500: With 15 points in the Jan. 3 win over Humboldt, Alex Fertig became the second–fastest player to 500 points in CSUMB history (his 37th appearance). Davion Berry got their the fastest, using 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 nine games into the season, but the Otters are shooting free throws at an historically dismal pace. CSUMB enters the weekend converting just 61.0 percent (152–249) 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.

NITZ IN RAREFIED AIR: Junior swingman Ryan Nitz brings a scoring average of 18.3 points per game into the new year. That earns him the No. 6 spot on the latest CCAA men's basketball scoring ladder. Nitz's scoring prowess is thanks in large part to his precision (44.7 pct.) shooting from beyond the 3–point arc. He also ranks No. 6 in the CCAA in that category.

LIKE THIEVES IN THE NIGHT: The Otters enter the weekend ranked No. 3 in the CCAA by averaging 7.8 steals per game. Junior forward Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) ranks No. 3 among CCAA individuals by averaging 1.9 spg.