ARCATA — (Feb. 24) Avenging an early season defeat, Humboldt State held off Cal State Los Angeles in the closing minutes Saturday to claim a 77-75 California Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball victory.

Finishing the home portion of their regular season with a perfect 14-0 record in the East Gym, the Lumberjacks improved to 22-3 overall and 17-3 in the CCAA. Cal State L.A. fell to 10-15 overall and 7-13 in league games.

In his final regular season home appearance, senior Kevin Johnson led the way for the Jacks with 23 points and 17 rebounds. Another senior, Jeremiah Ward, scored 17 points for the Jacks, and Devin Peal added 15 with eight rebounds.

Jontae Vincent paced CSLA with 17 points despite a 6-of-20 shooting performance from the field. Vincent Camper scored 16, Robert Reynaga had 15 and Junior Rodriguez chipped in 12 points for the Golden Eagles.

Bucking the trend of the evening, Humboldt State made four of its final five free throws to preserve the victory. For the game, the Jacks made only 19 of their 31 chances from the line, an unhealthy 61 percent.

the Lumberjacks led 77-72 with only 13 seconds remaining, but the Golden Eagles quickly converted a dunk by Vinson on the other end to cut the margin to three. The Lumberjacks threw the ball out of play on the inbounds for a turnover, and after a timeout, quickly fouled CSLA's Donte Bell.

With four seconds remaining, Bell made the first free throw to cut the lead to two points, but intentionally missed the second to set up a potential rebound. But Vinson knocked the ball out of bounds, and HSU inbounded far downcourt to run out the clock on the win.

After taking a 33-32 lead into halftime, the Lumberjacks eventually built an eight-point lead in the second half. Johnson put down a layup off an assist by the Jacks' third senior, Evan Way, to give the home team a 49-41 advantage with 14 minutes, 39 seconds remaining.

Cal State L.A. closed within four on a Vinson jumper, but Humboldt State expanded the advantage to eight again on a jumper by Ward. Over the final eight minutes of the game, the Jacks' largest lead was the five-point advantage they held heading into the final 13 seconds.

Humboldt State makes its final regular-season roadtrip this week, traveling to face Chico State on Thursday and Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday.

Cal State L.A. vs Humboldt State
2/24/07 7:30pm at Arcata, Calif.
HUMBOLDT STATE 77, CAL STATE L.A. 75
CAL STATE L.A. (10-15, 7-13 CCAA)
VINSON, Jontae 6-20 5-7 17; CAMPER, Vincent 6-13 4-6 16; REYNAGA, Robert 4-8 3-3 15; RODRIGUEZ, Junior 3-4 6-6 12; MACKIE, Imani 3-4 1-2 7; BELL, Donte 3-8 0-0 7; TURNER, Ralph 0-2 1-2 1; POLO, Tyler 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-61 20-26 75.
HUMBOLDT STATE (22-3, 17-3 CCAA)
JOHNSON, Kevin 10-18 3-6 23; WARD, Jeremiah 7-14 2-3 17; PEAL, Devin 5-10 5-8 15; SHEUFELT, Will 2-6 3-5 9; DEL RIO, Efren 1-1 2-2 5; VANDERMEER, Cy 1-2 3-4 5; MOYER, Grayson 1-5 1-3 3; WAY, Evan 0-0 0-0 0; CORRAL, Carlos 0-1 0-0 0; BURNS, Tyler 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 19-31 77.
Cal State L.A.................   32   43  -   75
Humboldt State................   33   44  -   77
3-point goals-Cal State L.A. 5-14 (REYNAGA, Robert 4-8; BELL, Donte 1-2; TURNER, Ralph 0-2; POLO, Tyler 0-1; CAMPER, Vincent 0-1), Humboldt State 4-11 (SHEUFELT, Will 2-3; WARD, Jeremiah 1-2; DEL RIO, Efren 1-1; MOYER, Grayson 0-3; JOHNSON, Kevin 0-2). Fouled out--Cal State L.A.-RODRIGUEZ, Junior, Humboldt State-None. Rebounds-Cal State L.A. 38 (RODRIGUEZ, Junior 12), Humboldt State 37 (JOHNSON, Kevin 17). Assists-Cal State L.A. 10 (CAMPER, Vincent 4), Humboldt State 17 (MOYER, Grayson 4; SHEUFELT, Will 4). Total fouls-Cal State L.A. 22, Humboldt State 17. A-1400

###