ARCATA — Two basketball programs that are always in contention for postseason make their first visit to Lumberjack Arena this weekend. Cal Poly Pomona  (7-4 overall, 3-3 in the CCAA) will face HSU (12-4, 5-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Cal State San Bernardino (7-5, 5-1) takes on the Jacks at the same time Saturday.

This weekend's games also feature family-friendly promotions, and with the student population arriving for the beginning of the semester, Lumberjack Arena should be a busy place. More information is available later in this release.

On-the-Air: All Lumberjack basketball games are broadcast live locally on KATA, 1340 AM, the North Coast's ESPN radio affiliate.  Webcasts are also available for out-of-area listeners, accessed through the Humboldt State Athletics site at hsujacks.com. …Bicoastal Media Sports Director J.B. Mathers is back for another year of bring home the action from courtside for all home contests. He'll be joined by Humboldt State Athletics Hall-of-Famer Burt Nordstrom. On the road, Assistant Athletic Director Dan Pambianco provides play-by-play. All broadcasts begin 15 minutes prior to game time with the pregame show.

Coaches Show: For insight on the Jacks' basketball program and information on all of Humboldt State's athletics activities, catch "Humboldt State Tonight" on Fox Channel 2 local cable television at 6 p.m. Thursdays. J.B. Mathers hosts the show, which features interviews with Coach Tom Wood, student-athletes, and other HSU Athletics staff members.

Live Stats: Fans can follow the action from Lumberjack Arena on their home computers by accessing the Live Stats feature on hsujacks.com. Home games are linked at http://livestats.internetconsult.com/humboldt/mbball/. 

Promotions: Friday's and Saturday's games have been designated as "Family Fun Night" in coordination with parent-teacher groups from local elementary schools. St. Mary's Elementary will be represented Friday, and Dow's Prairie and Morris School will both be participating Saturday. The partent-teacher organizations from those schools are covering the cost of student admission, helping promote a fun family activity. …Saturday's activities will also feature music provided by SambAmore, starting at 5 p.m. in the lobby of the KA Building, and the same group will perform at halftime of the women's and men's games. Following the games, fans are invited to stick around for more music outside the arena.

Head-to-Head: One win and a pair of losses during the 2007-08 season dropped the Jacks to 6-10 all-time against Cal Poly Pomona. One of the losses came when the Broncos defeated the Jacks in the postseason CCAA tournament. …Humboldt State won at home and lost on the road to CSU San Bernardino last year, moving to 3-8 all-time vs. the Coyotes.

Lumberjack Notes: Being listed on the roster means playing an active role in the team's success more than every this year, as all 13 Lumberjacks continue to see significant playing time. In fact, Zac Tiedeman's 24 minutes against Chico State was the most any Lumberjack was on the court all weekend. Besides winning, the result has been fresh attitudes and bodies. …"Winning creates chemistry, but also contributing to that is the knowledge a player has that when he comes to practice he's going to contribute, and he's also going to get minutes in the game," HSU head coach Tom Wood said. "We've developed a one-for-all attitude. You can sense that chemistry on the bench." …Winners of four straight league games, the Lumberjacks are now 12-4 overall and their 5-1 CCAA mark puts them in a tie for first place with CSU San Bernardino. But with less than half the league games completed, Wood pointed out that a standings watch isn't prominent in his mind. "We can't look at the standings too seriously yet, because everybody hasn't played the same opponents," Wood said. "It's too early to even guess who is going to be at the top when its over. There are too many good teams in our league to make that an easy task." …Minor injuries have cropped up, but haven't slowed the Lumberjacks yet. Mike Kehrig (knee) and Will Petty (ankle) were both scheduled for assessment by the training staff Monday, but both are expected to be able to practice and play this week. …Zac Tiedeman was lights-out from all over the court last weekend, making 9-of-11 from the field, including 5-of-6 from three-point range. The junior transfer had games of 14 and 18 points respectively, and also had four assists, two steals and two blocked shots. He now ranks fourth in the CCAA in three-point percentage at .478 desipte having played more games and shot almost twice as many three-pointers than any other individual. Tiedeman also ranks second in free throw shooting, having made .865 percent of his shots. …This week's opponents have a history of defeating the Jacks in big games. Last year, Cal Poly Pomona knocked off HSU in the Jacks' own gym in the first round of the league playoffs. The year before, it was Cal State San Bernardino ending Humboldt State's postseason by beating the Jacks in the championship game of the NCAA West Region Tournament, also played in Arcata and the old East Gym.

Opponents Notes: Cal Poly Pomona is 7-4 overall, sporting a 3-3 CCAA record. The Broncos picked up a big win last weekend, defeating UC San Diego, 54-51. …Senior forward Larry Gordon has picked up where he left off a year ago, and comes into the week as the Broncos' top scorer with an average of 14.2 points per game. He's also the CCAA's leading rebounder with 9.6 boards per contest. …Also scoring in double figures for Cal Poly Pomona is senior guard Walter Thompson with an average of 13.1 ppg. …Cal State San Bernardino has won five straight games, including a sweep of home games against Cal Poly Pomona and UC San Diego. The Coyotes' lone league loss was a 79-59 decision against CSU Dominguez Hills on Dec. 6, 2008. …Thre players carry the bulk of the scoring for CPP, junior center Brandon Brown, senior point guard Devin Montgomery and junior guard Lawrence Tyson. Brown is averagign 17.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game since joing the team six games ago. Montgomery averages 14.2 poitns per game, and Tyson is scoring at a 10.2 ppg clip. …Of the 16 players listed on this year's Coyotes' roster, 13 are transfers from junior colleges or other four-year institutions. The small group players with only high-school experience includes one freshman and two sophomores.

Wood's Words: "We've had some great battles with these two teams, and they've given us a lot of trouble. There's a measure of pride that always goes along with winning these games, and I think that goes for ourselves and the opponents." … "Cal Poly Pomona is always difficult to prepare for. They do a good job of frustrating us with their defense, and they have one of the premiere players in the CCAA in Larry Gordon." …"Cal State San Bernardino difficult for us from a preparation standpoint. The strategies and game plan they use is hard enough, and that's before they even get off the bus. That's when you see that they're very talented, athletic players." … "(CSUSB) was already a good team, but since he joined them, Brandon Brown has made them a very good team."

Roster: Humboldt State's roster is available online at the following link - http://hsujacks.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball&

Statistics: Season statistics and individual game boxscores can be found at the following web link - http://hsujacks.com/custompages/mbball/2008/teamstat.htm?path=mbball