ARCATA — Humboldt State spoiled Cal State Dominguez Hills chance for an outright California Collegiate Athletic Association championship, knocking off the league-leaders 75-71 in the regular season finale Friday in Lumberjack Arena.

HSU's win left the Toros in a three-way tie for first with Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona, all with a 15-5 CCAA records. CSU Dominguez Hills, the region's No. 2 ranked team, dropped to 21-6 overall.

The Lumberjacks finished the year tied for fourth with UC San Diego, but with 13-7 league marks. Humboldt State improved its overall record to 20-10, marking the seventh time the Jacks' program has achieved 20 wins, all during current head coach Tom Wood's tenure.

Friday's win didn't come easy, and it came despite a near-disastrous performance from the free throw line. The Jacks missed several opportunities to put the game away down the stretch, and ended the night 12-of-34 from the line for a 35 percent effort.

After leading by as many as 15 points, the Jacks' missed tosses helped the Toros rally back within two points in the final seconds. But HSU's Zac Tiedeman, the CCAA's leader in free throw shooting at 89 percent, drained a pair with two seconds left to seal the victory.

"It just gets contagious sometimes," said Tiedeman, about the Jacks' lack of foul shot accuracy. "Your confidence gets shot, but that didn't stop us from fighting and making stops on defense."

Tiedeman finished the night with 17 points and four assists, making 10 of HSU's 12 free throws. Kevin Atkins had 18 points for the Jacks and Kyle Baxter scored 14.

CSU Dominguez Hills was led by Rodney Yearby and Jamel Ward, both of whom scored 17 points. Michael Hernandez added 13 points and seven assists.

Leading 29-27 at halftime, the Lumberjacks cranked up the effort in the second half, shooting 62 percent from the field to finish with an overall mark of 52 percent for the game. Atkins' back-to-back three-pointers provided HSU with a 43-35 lead with 15 minutes, 32 seconds remaining.

The Toros worked the lead down to two points, pulling within 47-45 when Yearby broke free for a layup. But the Jacks answered with a 20-7 run that Ernie Spada finished off with a three-pointer at the 4:03 mark.

Using frenetic defense to force turnovers and capitalizing on the Jacks' lack off foul shot accuracy, CSUDH stormed back to pull within two points on another Yearby layup before Tiedeman sealed the win.

"We've bounced back in tough situations before and have shown our character," Tiedeman said. "That's the thing about this team. We're all out for the common goal and we're able to fight back from adversity."

Humboldt State's season continues when the CCAA Tournament begins Tuesday. The Jacks will have to travel to take on UC San Diego, which claimed the higher seed by virtue of a coin flip tiebreaker conducted by the league office earlier in the week.

The winners of Tuesday's games advance to Friday's semifinals at Cal State San Bernardino. Saturday's championship game will decided the CCAA's automatic berth in the NCAA Division II West Region Championships.

CSU Dominguez Hills vs Humboldt State
2/27/09 at Arcata, Calif. (Lumberjack Arena)
At Arcata, Calif. (Lumberjack Arena)
HUMBOLDT STATE 75, CSU DOMINGUEZ HILLS 71
CSU DOMINGUEZ HILLS (21-6, 15-5 CCAA)
WARD, Jamel 4-7 7-9 17; YEARBY, Rodney 8-12 0-0 17; HERNANDEZ, Michael 4-12
5-6 13; TOLIVER, Jonathan 2-7 0-0 6; SMITH, Jerrell 2-6 1-3 5; WILLHITE,
Robert 0-1 4-4 4; CAWTHORNE, James 1-4 1-2 3; WALTON, Ryan 1-4 0-0 3;
McGRATH, Tim 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 23-56 18-24 71.
HUMBOLDT STATE (20-10, 13-7 CCAA)
ATKINS, Kevin 7-13 0-1 18; TIEDEMAN, Zac 3-5 10-12 17; BAXTER, Kyle 6-9 1-6
14; FIGGATT, Jameson 4-5 1-6 9; SPADA, Ernie 2-7 0-2 5; DAVIS, Keith 2-5 0-0
5; HOWARD, David 1-1 0-0 3; NEWMAN, Owen 1-2 0-2 2; KEHRIG, Mike 1-2 0-3 2;
BABCOCK-KRENK, E. 0-1 0-0 0; MATHEWS, Colt 0-0 0-2 0; BROOME, David 0-0 0-0
0; PETTY, Will 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-52 12-34 75.
CSU Dominguez Hills...........   27   44  -   71
Humboldt State................   29   46  -   75
3-point goals--CSU Dominguez Hills 7-22 (WARD, Jamel 2-4; TOLIVER, Jonathan
2-6; McGRATH, Tim 1-2; WALTON, Ryan 1-3; YEARBY, Rodney 1-4; CAWTHORNE,
James 0-2; WILLHITE, Robert 0-1), Humboldt State 9-22 (ATKINS, Kevin 4-8;
DAVIS, Keith 1-2; SPADA, Ernie 1-4; TIEDEMAN, Zac 1-2; BAXTER, Kyle 1-4;
HOWARD, David 1-1; PETTY, Will 0-1). Fouled out--CSU Dominguez
Hills-CAWTHORNE, James; SMITH, Jerrell, Humboldt State-ATKINS, Kevin.
Rebounds--CSU Dominguez Hills 42 (YEARBY, Rodney 9), Humboldt State 29
(FIGGATT, Jameson 7). Assists--CSU Dominguez Hills 12 (HERNANDEZ, Michael
7), Humboldt State 14 (TIEDEMAN, Zac 4). Total fouls--CSU Dominguez Hills
27, Humboldt State 21. Technical fouls--CSU Dominguez Hills-WARD, Jamel,
Humboldt State-None. A-1850