ARCATA — After dropping four consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Association games, the Humboldt State men's basketball team looks to reverse the trend when it travels for two league games this weekend. The Lumberjacks, 5-5 overall and 1-5 in the CCAA, face CSU East Bay at 7:30 p.m. Friday, then make their way further south to Seaside where they'll take on CSU Monterey Bay on Saturday.

Cal State East Bay, 4-6 overall and 3-3 in league, split on the road last week, defeating Cal State Los Angeles, 54-45, before losing to CSU Dominguez Hills, 69-54. Friday's game will be only the second CCAA home contest for the Pioneers.

Cal State Monterey Bay is 6-7 in all games and 2-4 in the CCAA following a its own split against the same opponents. Results were reversed, however, with the Otters defeating CSUDH, 75-72, and falling to Cal State L.A., 75-62.

Head-to-Head
Dating back to their mutual affiliation with the Northern California Athletic Conference in the 80's and 90's, Humboldt State and Cal State East Bay have faced off 81 times, HSU winning 34 times and CSUEB 47. Last year the teams split, the Pioneers earning an 88-82 win in Hayward and Jacks scoring an 86-78 win in Arcata. …Humboldt State has maintained a perfect 17-0 mark against CSUMB, historically.

On-the-Air
Humboldt State basketball can be once again heard over the airwaves on KATA, 1340 AM, the North Coast's ESPN radio affiliate. BiCoastal Media Sports Director J.B. Mathers describes the action. Airtime is 7:15 p.m. The broadcast will also be streamed live at http://socialstreamingplayer.crystalmedianetworks.com/radio/kataam.

Streaming Video
Cal State East bay will not offer live video stream of this Friday's game, but Saturday's contest against CSUMB can be viewed at http://media.csumb.edu/encoder1.php.
 
LiveStats
Statistics will be updated live Friday through the CSU East Bay link at http://www.sidearmstats.com/csueastbay/mbball/scoreboard.aspx.  Live statistics for Saturday's game vs. CSU Monterey Bay can be accessed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/csumb/mbball/scoreboard.aspx.

Projected Starters
Humboldt State Lumberjacks
Guard – #24 Austin Bryan, 6-4, 200, Jr. from Wenatchee, Wash.
Guard – #15 Nathan Hentley, 6-1, 170, So. from Springfield, Mass.
Forward – #2 Deaundray Robinson, 6-5, 185, Jr. from Baton Rouge, La.
Forward – #32 Darren Turpin, 6-4, 205, Sr. from Compton
Forward – #21 Aaron Chamberlain, 6-7, 200, Sr. from Coronoa

Cal State East Bay Pioneers
Guard – #5 Jacari Whitfield, 6-3, 190, Fr. from Sacramento
Guard – #13 Jason Smith, 5-7, 160, So. from San Francisco
Forward – #23 Ota Okungbowa, 6-3, 190, Fr. from Sacramento
Forward – #35 Nick Marshal, 6-6, 195, Sr. from Vallejo
Center– #44 Jurrell Turner, 6-5, 185, Sr. from Hayward

Cal State Monterey Bay Otters
Guard – #3 Brandon Cole, 6-1, 175, Jr. from Vallejo
Guard – #4 Brandon Ward, 6-0, 185, Sr. from Riverside
Forward – #5 Alex Fertig, 6-3, 195, Fr. from Fresno
Forward – #23 Kevin Loustale, 6-6, 245, Sr. from Chico
Center– #40 Chris Gallop, 6-9, 205, Jr. from Vallejo

Injury Report
Thomas Witzel returned to active status on Saturday, recovering from a finger injury suffered early last week that kept him out of Thursday's game against Cal State San Bernardino. Other HSU players have experienced similar minor injuries, but all are expected to travel this week.

Lumberjack Notes
Slumps are unfamiliar in Lumberjack Land, but HSU will have to battle back from a 1-5 start to the league season if it hopes to remain in contention for any kind of postseason. The Jacks currently stand tied with CSU Stanislaus and UC San Diego at the bottom of the CCAA standings. "It's back to basics mode in practice this week," head coach Steve Kinder said. "We need to earn a win, and learn how to pay the price in practice so we can close out a game victorious." …Newcomer Rocky Brown showed his shooting prowess in his first two contests, putting up eight points in 15 minutes against CSU San Bernardino and scoring 12 in the same amount of court time Saturday against UC San Diego. …As a team, the Lumberjacks' highest national statistics ranking is in field goal percentage, where they list 45th with a 47.4 percent average. Individually, Deaundray Robinson is 83rd nationally in steals, averaging two per game. …Last year's spirit leader, guard Nathan Hentley, let his basketball skills do the talking Saturday in a career-best 11-point performance. Joining him in posting his best point performance as a Lumberjack was Darren Turpin, who scored 15 points and tied for team-high with five rebounds.

CSU East Bay  Notes
A pair of guards – Jurrell Turner and Gabe Kindred – are the Pioneers' scoring leaders, each averaging 11.4 points per game. But it was senior guard Jason Smith who led them to victory over Cal State L.A. on Friday with a perfect shooting night that included a 7-for-7 performance from the field. Smith finished with 21 points and went 4-for-4 from 3-point range and set an East Bay all-time standard for single-game field goal percentage. He was held to three points by CSUDH the following night. …Friday's victory gave the Pioneers one win in their past four games.

Cal State Monterey Bay Notes
Prior to Saturday's loss at CSULA, the Otters had won three straight games, including victories over Academy of Art and CSU East Bay that finished off the 2012 portion of their schedule. …Alex Fertig and Brandon Ward have consistently been CSUMB's offensive leaders this season, averaging 16.4 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. Fertig led all scorers with 21 points in last week's loss to Cal State L.A., his fifth 20-plus point game of the season. Ward also reached double figures with 10 points and is now just 10 points away from becoming the fourth Otter to amass 1,000 career points.

Kinder's Comments
"Our players are working hard in preparation for this weekend's road trip. They're a resilient group, and are looking forward to more CCAA challenges."… "Cal State East Bay and Monterey Bay are both vastly improved in comparison to their most recent seasons. They pose difficult match-ups in most positions. Both teams are well-coached, and will be targeting the Lumberjacks with the revenge factor for the results of last season's contests."