This Week's Games

After a rugged road swing last weekend, Humboldt State looks for potentially its best homestand of the season this week.

If a team received credit for coming close to victories, the Lumberjacks may lead the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Since you only are given the victory at the end of the game, HSU came up short on both ends of its trip to southern California last weekend at No. 7 Cal State San Bernardino and UC San Diego.

HSU enters the week with the prospect of putting together the beginning of a solid final four weeks of the regular season. The Jacks will host the Pioneers of Cal State East Bay on Thursday night and wrap up the pair of contests against the Otters of Cal State Monterey Bay in front of the best crowd in the league.

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/.

Head-to-Head History

HSU will try to reverse a disappointing opening January weekend series at Cal State East Bay and Cal State Monterey Bay. The Jacks dropped a pair of three possession finals in those first matchups ... Against the Pioneers, the Jacks have won only two of the last five contests of the series. Cal State East Bay leads the all-time series by a 49-35 margin and won the last three played in Hayward with an 89-81 win. David Howard and Allan Guei had big nights with a combined 57 points (29 and 28 points) and 18 rebounds (eight and 10 rebounds). Gabe Kindred powered the Pioneers with 24 points and Mark Samuels' 17 tallies. HSU, though, seeks to keeps its run of success in Lumberjack Arena against the foe. HSU has claimed each of the four games played in Arcata since Cal State East Bay came into the CCAA ranks. Last year in Lumberjack Arena, the Jacks picked up a 77-69 win on Feb. 16 ... HSU had been nothing short of dominate against Cal State Monterey Bay until last season. The Otters made it two wins in a row with 76-69 decision over the Jacks on Jan. 3. Howard hit for 18 points and Guei 15 to lead HSU, while Alex Fertig had 15 points and Ryan Nitz 13 for the Otters. The two CSU Monterey Bay wins in Seaside stand as its only two wins in 20 all-time meetings with HSU (18-2). The Jacks are 7-0 against the Otters in Lumberjack Arena. Last year in Arcata, HSU won 108-100 in a high-scoring overtime affair.

Statistically Speaking

The latest HSU standings among the CCAA statistical rankings heading into this week's competition.

Probable Starters

Lumberjacks

#4 Parker Farris, G, 6-4, 180, Fr., McKinleyville
#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 East Bay
#5 Jacari Whitfield, G, 5-7, 160, Jr., San Francisco
#11 Mark Samuels, G, 6-0, 180, Sr., Berkeley
#22 Gabe Kindred, G, 6-2, 175, Sr., Oakland
#33 Ryan Hebebrand, F, 6-5, 220, Sr., Livermore
#35 Kyle Frakes, C, 6-10, 225, Fr., Thousand Oaks

Cal State Monterey Bay
#3 Brandon Cole, G, 6-1, 177, Sr., Vallejo
#5 Alex Fertig, F/G, 6-3, 200, So., Fresno
#11 Ryan Nitz, G, 6-4, 182, Jr., Rancho Cucamonga
#15 Kris Gallop, F/C, 6-9, 215, Sr., Vallejo
#31 Greg Anderson, F, 6-7, 191, Jr., Murrieta

Similar games and similar unfortunate results

In what has been a theme, HSU was able to give a team all it wanted, but could not come up with the 'W' in the end. In both ends of the southern California road trip, the Jacks held second half leads only to see the home club overtake them in the end for the win. On Friday, HSU gave No. 7 Cal State San Bernardino all it wanted. The Jacks held a 62-61 lead with nine minutes to go before the highly-talented Coyotes regrouped for the 82-70 win. At La Jolla, a David Howard hook shot gave his club a 52-51 lead with 11:40 to go. HSU ran out of steam and fell 75-61 in the end.

Mackie giving more consistent play

After sitting out some early semester contests, junior swingman Jordan Mackie has been able to add his scoring threat into the mix again. Mackie averaged 10.5 ppg over last weekend with nine and 12 points. The junior holds an 11.9-point average with 27 triples over 15 games.

Scouting Cal State East Bay (7-13/4-10 CCAA)

Cal State East Bay will attempt to break its three-game skid this weekend. The Pioneers have fallen short in their last three games and seven of their last eight contests. Over last weekend, Cal State East Bay suffered two double figure losses at Cal State Los Angeles (89-79) and CSU Dominguez Hills (78-59). The Pioneers are only two points away, a 71-69 win over the CCAA's bottom-dwelling Sonoma State on Jan. 24, from having an eight-game losing streak. It was the program's lone victory since the win over HSU on Jan. 4 ... Last week, Cal State Los Angeles outscored CSU East Bay by 10 points to take away the victory. Nick Grieves and Jacari Whitfield pumped in 19 and 18 points, respectively ... The first half was a tough one last Saturday. The Pioneers fell behind by 18 points and could not recover against the Toros. Jarred Jordan downed 20 points. ... On the year, the Pioneers rate second in free throw shooting (72.6%) and fourth in scoring (75.6 ppg) amongst the league squads. ... The Pioneers have four scorers averaging at least nine points with Gabe Kindred leading the way at 18.2 ppg, fourth-most in the conference. Kindred also stands second in 3-point percentage (46.1%) and hits 47% from the field. Mark Samuels adds 13.5 ppg and hands out 3.4 apg, while Whitfield nets 11.3 ppg. Grieves has 45 triples and fourth in the CCAA from long-range at 44.1%.

Scouting Cal State Monterey Bay (6-11/4-10 CCAA)

Cal State Monterey Bay has had a little more success over the last three weeks compared to its CCAA travel partner. The Otters have fallen short in each of their last three outings with two coming by just two points apiece. The team has recorded a 2-7 mark since the first game against HSU. ... Last weekend, CSU Dominguez was able to pull out an 82-80 overtime win over CSU Monterey Bay last Friday. Ryan Nitz downed 25 points with Alex Fertig and Greg Anderson had 16 and 15 points. On Saturday, Cal State Los Angeles pushed ahead by 13 points, 34-21, in the first half and took away the 65-51 win. Isaiah Smith was the lone double-digit point person with 12. ... Swing players Nitz and Fertig are the Otters leaders at 16.2 ppg and 13.6 ppg as the only two 10-plus point averages. Nitz leads the CCAA in free throw percentage at 84.3% and second in steals (2.0 spg). Center Kris Gallop is the inside player (7.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg).

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