ARCATA — The primary goal of achieving a regular season championship remains alive for the Lumberjacks, who are tied atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings heading into the final two games. Those contests occur on the road this week in a scheduling arrangement that pushes up the contests to allow more time prior to the start of the CCAA Championships tournament next Tuesday, March 2.
Further impacting this week's games is the fact that the Jacks face the league's only two travel partners that are in different halves of the state. They take on Cal State East Bay on Wednesday before flying down to face UC San Diego on Friday. Both games tip off at approximately 7:30 p.m.
On-the-Air
Every Lumberjack basketball game is broadcast live over the local airways on KATA, 1340 AM, beginning with the pregame show 15 minutes prior to game time. Bicoastal Media Sports Director J.B. Mathers describes the action from Lumberjack Arena and HSU Assistant Athletic Director Dan Pambianco goes on the road with the Jacks. …Audio is also streamed live over the Internet through the hsujacks.com web site. The new UStream format allows an interactive chat between listeners during the webcast. The specific URL for access is located at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/humboldt-state-athletics.
Live Stats
All Lumberjack basketball home games can be tracked online by using the Live Stats feature on hsujacks.com. Real time statistics, momentum tracker and other information are featured on the game viewer. The feature can be found at http://www.sidearmstats.com/humboldt/mbball/.
Head-to-Head
Humboldt State is 7-3 all-time against UC San Diego after earning a 74-60 victory over the Tritons on Jan. 21 in Lumberjack Arena. In 2008-09, the Jacks split the season-series before falling to UCSD in the opening game of the CCAA Championships. …Cal State East Bay, formerly known as Cal State Hayward, holds a 46-30 advantage over the Jacks in the historical series. Humboldt State captured the previous meeting this season, winning 85-69 at home.
Projected Starters
G - #12 Ernie Spada, 5-11, 175, Jr., Lake Oswego, Ore.
G - #22 Zac Tiedeman, 6-1, 180, Sr., Santa Rosa, Calif.
C - #32 Brian Morris, 6-9, 270, Jr., Portland, Ore.
F - #34 Elliot Babcock-Krenk, 6-3, 205, So, Lake Oswego, Ore.
F - #24 Kevin Atkins, 6-6, 220, Sr., Long Beach, Calif.
Lumberjack Links
Following are links to more information on the Lumberjack basketball program.
Complete Roster
Schedule
2009-10 Statistics
Head Coach Tom Wood
Lumberjack Head Coach Tom Wood has announced that he will retire following the current season. In 29 years directing the Jacks, Wood's teams have compiled a 460-349 overall record and have won more than 20 games in eight seasons. During the new millennium, Wood's teams have posted a 214-75 overall record, including 124-18 on their home court (the East Gym and Lumberjack Arena).
Lumberjack Notes
Last week's win over Cal State Stanislaus clinched a first-round home game for the CCAA Championships, set to begin on Tuesday, March 2. That tournament determines the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Division II West Region Championships. Teams can also earn at-large berths in the postseason, as HSU has done the past two years. …Humboldt State maintained its spot to No. 5 in the NCAA Division II West Region poll released last Wednesday. Ahead of HSU were Great Northwest Athletic Conference schools Seattle Pacific and Western Washington, in the top two spots, along with CCAA schools Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino. …Heading into the final week, senior Zac Tiedeman is poised to take the league statistical title in three categories. He tops the conference stats in free throw percentage (.886), 3-point field goal percentage (.486) and assists/turnover ratio (2.9). Junior post Brian Morris is best in conference in (.637) in field goal percentage. …Winners of 10 of their last 11 games, the Lumberjacks are 7-1 at home and 3-0 in road contests since Jan. 14.
Opponents' Notes
Prior to Wednesday's game, Cal State East Bay will honor head coach Will Biggs prior for having reached the 200-win career milestone. …Freshman guard Mark Samuels is the Pioneers' leading scorer with an average of 10.3 points per game. Samuels didn't play against the Lumberjacks the first time the squads met this season. …Cal State East Bay is suffering through a 10-game losing streak that began with the loss to HSU on Jan. 23 in Arcata. …UC San Diego will host the Jacks in its senior night, marking the second straight weekend Humboldt State has been the opponent for a team's final regular season home game. The Tritons have two seniors to honor, guards Jordan Lawley and Tyler Acevedo. …The tandem of Lawley and Acevedo lead the Tritons in scoring, averaging 20.7 and 8.6 points per game, respectively. Lawley scored 30 points the first time the squads met, back on Jan. 21 in Arcata.
Wood's Words
"This week's schedule gives us one less day of preparation and some missed class time. We know what's at stake, however. This is a very important roadtrip." … "We're goign to work on our offensive production in practice. We need to find a way to get easier shots instead of having to grind for every basket." …Cal State East Bay is a well-coached team that plays to its strengths. We're a little more seasoned, and more of a veteran team, so its up to us to use that to our advantage".… "We haven't played well at UC San Diego in recent years, and we're hitting yet another team on senior night. Lawley is obviously a major concern and he'll demand our attention. He's had a storied career there."
