Men's Basketball | December 15, 2017

FULL NOTEBOOK (PDF)


SEASIDE, Calif.—Several old friends will be dropping by The Kelp Bed Sunday afternoon as the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team will look to move above .500 in CCAA action when San Francisco State visits for a 4 p.m. tip-off.

San Francisco State is led by former Otter lead assistant Vince Inglima, who is in his first season at the Gator helm. One of his key assistants is another former Otter aide, Tyler Brown. For good measure, SFSU's leading scorer is former Otter sharp-shooter Evan Zeller, who graduated from CSUMB last spring.

Fans who can't make it to The Kelp Bed can follow all of Sunday's action online and on the airwaves. In addition to live stats, the live video stream will be available as always at OtterAthletics.com/watch. Kevin Richardson will have the call on the video stream and on CSUMB Cable Ch. 73.1. Rob Ponce and Alex Hudson will call the action on KION 101.1 FM and the KION iHeartRadio stream.
 

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GATOR 3–DOT NOTES (6–4, 3–2 CCAA): The Gators are playing their first season under rookie Head Coach Vince Inglima, who was CSUMB's top assistant from 2010–13…SFSU is coming off a tough 62–56 loss at defending West Region champs Chico State in their last game (Dec. 9)…former Otter sharp–shooter Evan Zeller (who graduated from CSUMB with a degree in business last spring) highlights a top–heavy Gator scoring ledger at 16.1 ppg…2016–17 All–American Warren Jackson (Sr./G) adds 15.6 ppg and 4.8 apg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters were able to hang tough with the eventual 25–win Gators, pulling to within six points with 2:36 remaining, but SFS scored on five of its final seven possession to hold on for the 85–77 win in The Kelp Bed on Feb. 17. Gregg Polosky led five Otters in double figures with 14 points. Warren Jackson scored 22 points for the Gators.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters earned their most impressive win of the young season, battling back from 10 points down in the second half to earn a 78–76 overtime victory at defending CCAA Champion UC San Diego Friday (Dec. 8) in La Jolla. Jahvon Johnson led the way with a career–high 23 points while freshman Koen Sapwell matched his career best with 22. 

THE GAME WAS STATISTICALLY OVER WHEN… Koen Sapwell missed the front end of a one–and–one with two seconds remaining in overtime. Gregg Polosky got the rebound (that was credited to Sapwell) and time expired.

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.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters will be playing on Dec. 17 for just the second time in their history when they meet San Francisco State Sunday. Their only prior Dec. 17 affair was an 84–62 loss at Hawaii–Hilo on Dec. 17, 2001.

MR. CLUTCH: Just call Jahvon Johnson Mr. Clutch. Not only did he score a career–high 23 points at UCSD last week, he also scored the basket that forced overtime as well as the game–winner with 21 seconds remaining in OT

HIGHER AND HIGHER… Jahvon Johnson keeps raising the bar on his scoring top marks list. He has posted his four highest scoring totals in his last seven games, including a career–high 23 points at UCSD.

DOUBLE DOUBLE–DOUBLES… Mateo Jones complete his second consecutive double–double (and his third of the season) with his 11–point, 16–rebound effort Saturday versus East Bay. He is fourth player in Otter history to do it and the first to post consecutive double–doubles since Joe Mitchell turned the trick at Humboldt State and Cal State L.A. Jan. 3–10, 2009.

ON THE BLOCKS… Gregg Polosky's blocks Friday at UCSD extended his Otter career record to 71 blocked shots. The next closest Otters are Jay Demaestri and Kris Gallop with 46 blocks apiece.

MORE DOUBLE TROUBLE… Gregg Polosky claimed his second double–double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds Friday at UCSD. It marked CSUMB's sixth double–double its first 10 games. The Otters posted just seven double–doubles in all 26 games of 2016–17.

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.

AMONG THE CCAA LEADERS: Mateo Jones enters the week ranked No. 3 the CCAA in steals (21, 2.3 spg) and rebounding (9.2). Other Otters among the leaders include: BLOCKS: Gregg Polosky (No. 5, 1.1 bpg); REBOUNDING: Gregg Polosky (No. 11, 6.3 rpg); ASSISTS: Jonquis Bouyea (No. 12, 2.9 apg). 

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.