ARCATA - A perfect weekend has eluded Humboldt State in California Collegiate Athletic Association play. The Lumberjacks seek to change that fact in their final home pair of contests this week.

The Jacks showed their toughness in rallying for a strong Saturday performance after the worst road outing of the season last weekend. San Francisco State handled HSU from the start last Friday, 79-48. The North Coast team came back with an almost as convincing effort in downing Sonoma State, 75-63.

"We are off another split as we have been trending with splits," noted HSU head coach Steve Kinder. "It's good anytime you earn a split on the road in the CCAA. This will be our last opportunity for a sweep at home and give momentum to close out the season."

HSU will have its work cut out for it. The Jacks can play conference playoff spoiler on Thursday night against the Golden Eagles of Cal State Los Angeles, before trying to record their second season series sweep versus the Toros of Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday evening.

Track the Jacks

Audio: Every Humboldt State men's basketball game is broadcast live on the local airwaves on KATA 1340 AM, the North Coast's ESPN affiliate owned by BiCoastal Media. J.B. Mathers handles the play-by-play responsibilities, beginning with the pregame show 15 minutes prior to tip-off. The audio is also streamed live online at http://socialstreamingplayer.crystalmedianetworks.com/radio/kataam. 

Video: HSU Athletics offers live streamed video online, coming direct from Lumberjack Arena at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/humboldt-state-athletics.

Live Stats: Follow the action online via Humboldt State's live statistics viewer, located at the following link: http://www.sidearmstats.com/humboldt/mbball/.

On Thursday, HSU will try to reverse the recent trend against Cal State Los Angeles. The Golden Eagles have slipped past the Jacks in each of the last three contests including a close four-point, 74-70, decision in Los Angeles five week ago. HSU is 6-5 in the last 11 matchups overall with Cal State Los Angeles with a 3-2 mark in Arcata. The Golden Eagles prevailed, 69-55, last year in Lumberjack Arena but the Jacks won on Jan. 11, 2012 by a 74-55 total. ... HSU will try to sweep CSU Dominguez Hills and its second CCAA foe to join Sonoma State in that category. The Jacks won 78-50 in Carson on Jan. 17 behind 19 points from both Parker Farris and Allan Guei. The Toros won a tight 85-83 game last year in Arcata, while the Jacks won the previous affair, 73-63, on Jan. 9, 2012. Overall, the Jacks are 8-3 in the series last 11 matchups against the Toros. 

Probable Starters

Lumberjacks

#10 Jordan Mackie, G, 6-6, 190, Jr., Los Angeles
#15 Brandon Pomrehn, C, 6-8, 230, Jr., Arcata
#22 Will Taylor, G/F, 6-4, 220, Fr., Eureka
#25 Allan Guei, G, 5-9, 163, Jr., Los Angeles
#32 David Howard, F, 6-7, 230, Jr., Chicago

Cal State Los Angeles

#0 Quinton Watkins, G, 6-4, 220, Sr., Inglewood
#3 James Tillman, F, 6-6, 205, Sr., Oakland
#5 Duce Zaid, G, 6-3, 203, Jr., Los Angeles
#23 Aaron Alston, F, 6-7, 190, Jr., Hesperia
#44 Xavier Jones, F/C, 6-8, 238, Jr., Carson

Cal State Dominguez Hills

#4 Darnell Martin, F, 6-6, 230, Jr., West Covina
#20 Steffon Neal, G, 6-4, 190, Sr., Compton
#21 Justin Sadler, F, 6-7, 235, Fr., Temecula
#24 Pierson Williams, G, 6-5, 190, Sr., Sylmar
#32 Everett Turner, Jr., G, 6-3, 185, Fr., Ontario

HSU two seniors to play final times at home

With the end of every season, there comes the final moments for fans to enjoy the talents and play of the team's senior players. HSU will have guard Chris Pender and forward Derrick Buchanan step onto the floor for the final times at Lumberjack Arena this weekend.

•Chris Pender – "A winner.  A defender who takes on the challenge in relentless fashion.  A tough nosed player who's best quality is his huge heart and desire to compete," said coach Kinder of the point guard.

Pender had a big last weekend. He led the team with 11 points at San Francisco State and added nine points at Sonoma State.

• Derrick Buchanan – "A true teammate, a work horse, player who is fearless and will battle every minute," pointed out Kinder.

Buchanan averages 1.5 points and 1.0 rebounds in support of the HSU frontline in eight minutes per night.

Scouting Cal State Los Angeles (13-9/10-8 CCAA)

Cal State Los Angeles snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday night with a 62-59 victory over Cal State Stanislaus behind Duce Zaid's 27-point night including 12 of 13 free throws. The Golden Eagles opened the weekend with a 63-61 loss to Chico State. LA is an even 3-3 over the last three weeks, but only 4-8 in the last dozen contests after starting the year 9-1. ... The CCAA's second-leading scorer Quinton Watkins (18.6 ppg) leads LA. The 6-4 senior has 53 triples and netted 16 points the first game against HSU. Forward James Tillman, who scored 24 points versus the Jacks, paces the inside play at 15.3 ppg and 5.8 rpg. As a team, LA have only scored over 66 points one time in the last eight games.

HSU coach Kinder's comments on the opponents:

"LA is capable of beating anyone in the CCAA on any night. They are extremely athletic, senior led and battle tested. LA and HSU has an ongoing late season competitive matchups the past five years becoming big games whether late February or the postseason. The game has playoff implications for them and we have to rise to the occasion.

CSUDH is a newly revived team with interim coach on board. They proved to be competitive since the change over. We were able to beat them down in LA earlier in the season, thus our confidence should be at a high level. Our goal is not to only win Thursday but to sweep the weekend."

Scouting CSU Dominguez Hills (7-18/4-14 CCAA)

After sweeping a home series three weeks ago, the Toros have fallen short the last two weekends. CSUDH dropped a 76-64 game to Cal State Stanislaus, before a big 85-60 loss to Chico State. The Toros are 3-11 since the calendar turned 2014. ... Forwards Givon Crump, Darnell Martin and DeShaun Freeman guide the Toros attack with 11.3, 10.0 and 9.7 points per night apiece. Freeman led the team in the first game versus HSU with 18 points. Pierson Williams adds 9.0 points from the outside with 55 3-pointers.

-GoJacks-