ARCATA — For the final time during the 2008-09 regular season the Lumberjacks will leave the comfort of the North Coast, seeking success in Southern California. They head south with a 19-7 record overall and 12-4 league mark, and will put their impressive credentials on the line against two formidable opponents, Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona.

Up first is Friday's 7:30 p.m. game against Cal State San Bernardino, a squad that defeated the Jacks, 92-80 on Jan. 17 in Arcata. Saturday's game against the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos tips off at the same time, HSU hoping to claim a sweep of the season series after winning the teams' previous matchup, 61-55 on Jan. 16 in Lumberjack Arena.

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/. This week's game at Cal State San Bernardino can be followed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/csusb/mbball/xlive.htm and the Saturday's action against Cal Poly Pomona is located at http://www.csupomona.edu/~athletic/Teams/livestats/XLIVE.HTM.

Head-to-Head: Humboldt State's home loss to Cal State San Bernardino in January dropped HSU to 3-9 all-time vs. the Coyotes. The Jacks have not beaten the Coyotes in four tries on CSUSB's home court. …Humboldt State now stands at 7-10 all-time against Cal Poly Pomona following the win a month ago in Arcata.

Rankings: Last Wednesday's NCAA Division II West Region poll listed the Lumberjacks at No. 5, a position higher than what they had occupied the previous week. BYU-Hawaii continues to lead the pack, followed by Western Washington, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Central Washington. Following the Lumberjacks are Seattle Pacific, Chaminade, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona and Dixie State. …Last week BYU Hawaii swept a pair of close games against Hawaii Hilo. Western Washington split two games, Cal State Dominguez Hills went 2-0 and Central Washington was 1-1. Seattle Pacific earned two wins, Chaminade was idle, CSUSB fell twice, Cal Poly Pomona was 2-0, and Dixie State won its only game. A new poll is due out Wednesday.

Lumberjack Notes: Veteran leadership pays dividends on the court, but also on the sidelines where the Jacks' coaching staff of Tom Wood, Steve Kinder, Bobby Robinson and Brian Rodgers have brought a relatively young unit of players into contention for postseason. Wood enters this week with a 440-338 record compiled during his 27 plus years coaching the Jacks, and even more impressively, he's guided his teams to a 194-65 mark during the current millennium. Over those nine seasons the Jacks have achieved a 119-46 conference record to date and are 113-15 at home. …Zac Tiedeman has been the Jacks' closest thing to a go-to guy on a very balanced squad, and came through again with a big weekend in leading the Jacks to victory twice. However, Tiedeman was again overlooked in consideration for the CCAA Player of the Week award despite carrying better numbers. He achieved a career-high 27 points in the Jacks' win over Chico State, hitting 5-of-7 from three-point range. In the two games combined, Tiedeman averaged 19 points, 3.5 rebounds and 8 assists per game. His most impressive statistic was a 16.0 assists/turnover ratio, with 16 assists and only a single turnover all weekend. Tiedeman also shot 86 percent from the free throw line, making 6 of 7 chances, and leads the CCAA in that category at 88 percent accuracy. "(Tiedeman) is obviously a very valuable player for us," HSU head coach Tom Wood said. "Whether he shoots the ball or not, he makes us better. He sees the court well and makes terrific passes." …While Tiedeman, Ernie Spada and the Jacks' other guards have been significant contributors all season, an area identified as a possible weakness for HSU - its post game - has turned into a strength thanks to Jameson Figgatt, Owen Newman, Kevin Atkins and David Howard, to name a few. Over the past six games, Atkins has averaged 14.5 points per contest while Figgatt is bringing a near double-double of 9.5 points and 9.0 rebounds. Newman has also made a difference, with his two top scoring games of the season coming during the stretch. "We've moved up into the middle of the pack in rebounding after we were way down there early in the season," Wood said. "We're a better team when our post players touch the ball on offense, whether they're doing the scoring or not."

Opponents Notes: Cal State San Bernardino endured two tough road losses last week, falling in overtime to Cal Poly Pomona, then losing to UC San Diego, 69-63. The Coyotes enter the week one game back of the Jacks and Cal State Dominguez Hills in the CCAA standings, tied for second with Cal Poly Pomona. …Junior transfer Brandon Brown has been dominant since joining the Coyotes seven games into the season. The 6-7 junior averages 18.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. He ranks first in the league in scoring in conference-only games, and is third in rebounding. …Cal Poly Pomona has been one of the league's most resurgent squads, stringing together six consecutive wins to vault into contention for the league title. Last week the Broncos defeated travel partner Cal State San Bernardino, 73-71 in overtime, then knocked off UC San Diego, 61-39 on the road. …Larry Gordon has been a model of consistency for the Broncos, and leads his team with 14.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. His rebounding mark places the senior forward far above the CCAA leaderboard in that category, averaging 1.7 more than the next closest player.

Wood's Words: "Cal State San Bernardino can look at the standings and rankings just like we can. They know there is a sense of urgency as we come down to the final games. We have to see the world the same way." … "We haven't been very successful down there, so that's an extra motivator for us." … "Cal Poly Pomona is playing really well. They're very good at dictating the tempo of the game, keeping the scoring in the 50s and 60s. We have to make sure we have quality possessions."

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