ARCATA — (Jan. 13) Finally shaking off a persistent Cal State Monterey Bay squad, Humboldt State used a 13-0 run midway through the second half to earn a 92-85 victory over the Otters in California Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball action Saturday.

Kevin Johnson scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Lumberjacks, who improved to 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the CCAA.   Augie Johnston scored 25 points for CSUMB, hitting 5-of-10 from three-point range, but the Otters still dropped to 5-7 overall and 2-5 in league.

Key to the Jacks' success was again the play of several reserves, who contributed productive minutes during HSU's decisive surge. Efran Del Rio and Evan Way came off the bench, the former shutting down Johnston for a prolonged period and the latter grabbing rebounds and diving for loose balls with reckless abandon.

"Once again, we got some real productive play off the bench," HSU head coach Tom Wood said.  "We were getting the loose balls, and we had great defense from Evan Way and Efren Del Rio. The last five or six games we've played, guys off the bench have been instrumental. That's huge, from a coaching perspective."

After D'Shon Cannon's three-pointer at the halftime buzzer sent CSUMB into the break tied with HSU at 43-43, the Otters fell behind and never led the Jacks in the second period. HSU moved up by 10 on Grayson Moyer's layup with 13 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the game to give the Jacks a 60-50 lead.

The Otters responded from beyond the three-point line, with both Matt Evans and Joe Mitchell contributing bombs that helped cut the Jacks' lead to three with just under 10 minutes to play.  Devin Peal's layup got the Jacks going again, and Will Sheufelt nailed a three-pointer to keep the surge rolling. A layup by Johnson and Way's three-pointer kept the pressure on, building the Jacks' advantage to 79-65.

A pair of late three-pointers by Johnston and another at the final buzzer by Cannon trimmed the final edge to seven points.

For the Jacks, Moyer joined Johnson in double digits with 18 points, while also dishing four assists without a turnover. Peal had 13 points and six rebounds, and Jeremiah Ward finished with 12 points for the Lumberjacks.

Cal State Monterey Bay kept the outcome in doubt with torrid shooting, hitting 64 percent of its shots in the first half on the way to a final mark of 52 percent. Dante Green had 12 points, and Mitchell and Richard Jenkins each added 11 for the Otters.

Humboldt State goes on the road for CCAA games next week, facing Cal State Los Angeles on Friday and taking on Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday.

Cal State Monterey Bay vs Humboldt State
1/13/07 7:30 p.m. at Arcata, Calif.
HUMBOLDT STATE 92, CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY 85
CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY (5-7, 2-5 CCAA)
JOHNSTON, Augie 9-16 2-2 25; GREEN, Dante 5-10 2-4 12; MITCHELL, Joe 4-8 2-2 11; JENKINS, Richard 4-6 3-3 11; CANNON, D'Shon 3-7 0-0 9; SANCHEZ, Jose 3-7 2-2 8; EVANS, Matt 2-3 1-3 7; DABBAS, Aeshraff 1-1 0-0 2; LINDQUIST, Joey 0-0 0-0 0; BRYANT, E.J. 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-59 12-16 85.
HUMBOLDT STATE (11-2, 6-2 CCAA)
JOHNSON, Kevin 8-14 7-9 24; MOYER, Grayson 5-8 6-9 18; PEAL, Devin 4-6 5-8 13; WARD, Jeremiah 5-11 2-2 12; SHEUFELT, Will 2-5 4-4 9;   VANDERMEER, Cy 2-6 2-2 6; DEL RIO, Efren 2-5 0-0 5; WAY, Evan 1-2 0-0 3; FLAGGS, Antonio 1-3 0-0 2; CORRAL, Carlos 0-0 0-0 0; BURNS, Tyler 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 30-61 26-35
92.
Cal State Monterey Bay........   43   42  -   85
Humboldt State................   43   49  -   92
3-point goals-Cal State Monterey Bay 11-25 (JOHNSTON, Augie 5-10; CANNON, D'Shon 3-5; EVANS, Matt 2-2; MITCHELL, Joe 1-2; SANCHEZ, Jose 0-2; GREEN, Dante 0-4), Humboldt State 6-20 (MOYER, Grayson 2-3; SHEUFELT, Will 1-3; WAY, Evan 1-1; JOHNSON, Kevin 1-5; DEL RIO, Efren 1-4; FLAGGS, Antonio 0-1; WARD, Jeremiah 0-3). Fouled out--Cal State Monterey Bay-GREEN, Dante, Humboldt State-None. Rebounds-Cal State Monterey Bay 31 (GREEN, Dante 8), Humboldt State 36 (JOHNSON, Kevin 14). Assists-Cal State Monterey Bay 13 (JOHNSTON, Augie 4; EVANS, Matt 4), Humboldt State 18 (SHEUFELT, Will 7). Total fouls-Cal State Monterey Bay 26, Humboldt State 12. A-1400

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