SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team begins the final leg of its 4-game roadtrip with the mammouth task of facing red-hot and 18th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona Thursday night in Kellogg Gym. The Otters will continue their geographically longest trip of the season when they head to far Northern California to tackle Humboldt State Saturday (Feb. 8). Tip-off both night is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of men's/women's doubleheader action.

As always, fans who can't make it to the games may listen live on www.OtterAthletics.com. Rob Ponce will call the action from courtside. Live stats and video will be available at www.BroncoAthletics.com. Live stats and video from Saturday's game at Humboldt State will be streamed as well (www.HSUJacks.com).

After this weekend, the Otters return to the friendly confines of The Kelp Bed to host UC San Diego (Feb. 14) and Cal State San Bernardino (Feb. 15). Note that both games will be 7 p.m. starts and will not be part of doubleheaders.

SCOUTING THE BRONCOS (15–3, 13–1 CCAA): The Broncos begin the week as the hottest team in the West Region. They've won 13 in a row and 14 of 15 entering Thursday night's tilt with the Otters. The Broncos don't possess eye–popping individual statistics, but they play spectacular team defense, leading the nation in that category (58.4 ppg allowed) in the latest NCAA Division II rankings. Senior swingman DeRonn Scott tops the Cal Poly scoring chart at 15.4 ppg. Sophomore forward Jordan Faison adds 13.3 ppg and a team–best 5.3 rebounds per game.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Both teams played outstanding defense for the first 20 minutes before the Broncos pulled away after intermission to win 60–40 in The Kelp Bed on Jan. 4. Pomona led just 21–20 at the half before the Otters tied the game at 23–23 early in the second half on an Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS) 3–pointer. That's when Cal Poly went on a 20–3 run over the next seven minutes to put the game away. Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) and Jordan Faison shared game–high honors with 15 points apiece.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, OTTER EDITION: The Otters had little in the tank after last Friday's emotional overtime loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills and it showed Saturday in a 65–51 loss at Cal State L.A. The Otters didn't make their first field goal until the game was more than nine minutes old yet still trailed by only 13 points at the half. They'd go on to miss 17 free throws on the night, and that proved to be a fatal flaw in a 14–point defeat.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, BRONCO EDITION: The Broncos earned their signature win of the season by dominating then No. 7 Cal State San Bernardino in an 88–68 victory Saturday in Coussoulis Arena. Cal Poly broke the game open midway through the first half, led by 22 at the break and by as many as 32 in the second half. Jordan Faison led the way with 26 points. DeRonn Scott added 19 points and 11 assists.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Azzan Walker blocked four shots—then the No. 2 mark in the CSUMB single–game record book—to lead the Otters to a 65–47 win over Notre Dame de Namur on Feb. 6, 2004.

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: The Otters have committed just 57 combined turnovers in their last five games. It's their best 5–game run taking care of the ball this season and their best since runs since turning the ball over just 53 times in a 5–game run from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11, 2011.

THE FANTASTIC FIVE: For the second time this season, five Otters scored in double figures in the Jan. 25 win at Chico State. The scoring quintuplets were: Alex Fertig (15), Ryan Nitz (15), Greg Anderson (Murietta/Palomar College) 14, Kris Gallop (11) and Devin Murphy (Sacramento/Sierra College) (10). In case you're wondering, the other occurrence was an 89–83 win over Cal State East Bay on Dec. 21.

WHAT A STEAL: In addition to twice matching the CSUMB team high for steals in a game this season (5 at Cal State East Bay on Dec. 14 and vs. Cal State East Bay on Dec. 21), Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) enters the week ranked No. 2 in the CCAA with 34 steals (2.0 spg). He is looking to join Chris Jackson and Chris Hardy (both in 1998–99) as the only Otters to average 2.0 or more steals per game.

STEALING IS TEAM GAME: Led by five steals from Greg Anderson (Murietta/Palomar College), the Otters compiled 13 steals in the Sonoma State Jan. 25  game. That's a season high and tied for No. 15 in the CSUMB single–game record book.

FERTIG FLYING HIGH… Not only was the 30–point night by Alex Fertig Jan. 10 at San Bernardino a career–high, it marked the first 30–point game by an Otter since Brandon Ward scored 31 at Sonoma State on Feb. 2, 2012.

…WITH AN ASTERISK: Though it didn't count on the official stats, the San Bernardino game was actually Fertig's second 30–point game of the season. He dropped 31 points on San Jose State in the Otters' 78–69 exhibition win over the Spartans on Nov. 4.

No. 16 WITH A BULLET: Alex Fertig continues to shoot up the CSUMB career scoring chart. His 30 points Jan. 10 raised his career total to 548 (now 607), vaulting him from 18th to 16th place past Will Brown (537) and Dante Green (538). Next up is No. 15 Mike Miller (615).

CLOSE ONLY COUNTS… Against Sonoma State and Cal State Dominguez Hills, not only Otters did the Otters lose consecutive games by two (or one) points for just the second time in school history, but they've played consecutive games decided by that margin for just the third time. The Otters lost to Notre Dame de Namur (71–70) and Cal State L.A. (62–60) on Dec. 10 & 18, 2011. The Otters beat Chico State (106–104) and San Francisco State (75–74) on Feb. 3 & 6, 2008.

TAKE THEM, THEY'RE FREE: Free throw shooting continues to be a thorn in the Otter side this season. They missed 15 free throws Friday night at Dominguez Hills and 17 Saturday night at Cal State L.A., the seventh and eighth times this season that they've missed 10 or more in a game. In case you're wondering, CSUMB missed a season–high 19 free throws in a 93–70 loss at UC San Diego on Jan. 11.