ARCATA, Calif. – Putting the capper on a successful weekend of action at Lumberjack Arena, Humboldt State's men's basketball started strong and shook off a first-half Otter rally en route to defeating Cal State Monterey Bay 87-79 Saturday night.

The win follows HSU's 82-75 overtime win versus Cal State East Bay on Thursday night and takes the Jacks to 8-15 overall, 5-12 CCAA conference. Monterey Bay slips to 4-18, 3-15 CCAA.

"I thought the guys did a nice job executing the game plan defensively early," said Lumberjack Head Coach Steve Kinder. "That gave us some good stops and some breakouts with some high-percentage shots early."

The Lumberjacks went up 10-2 Saturday night before the Otters' offense started to get in gear and they surged to a 31-26 lead at the 7:06 mark of the first half. The Otters were led by Josh Kollman's 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown on the game and it was a Kollman three that gave the visitors their biggest advantage.

HSU responded, however, going on a 10-2 run punctuated by two Kameron Curl free throws. The Jacks led 39-38 at the half. Kinder said one of the focal points during the halftime talk was to reduce the Jacks' reliance on shooting the three, as they had 10 attempts at half and didn't want to trade baskets with the visitors. HSU would shoot just four threes after the break.

It took the home team time to gain some separation in the second half, but eventually the Jacks made use of an 11-2 run to go up 60-48 with 9:30 left on a Justin Everett jumper. HSU got its biggest lead at 73-60 with 3:21 remaining on a Will Taylor layup. The Jacks did the rest of their scoring work at the line save a Davasyia Hagger layup and dunk, as the Otters repeatedly fouled to extend the game.

The Jacks won despite Monterey Bay's excellent marksmanship, as the Otters went 14-of-27 from 3-point range (51.9 percent). HSU took care of the ball very well, committing just eight turnovers while taking the ball away from the Otters 15 times and scoring 19 points off the miscues.

Hagger led five Jacks in double figures with 20 points, and he grabbed 10 rebounds on the game. Romario Wilson had 17 points off the bench while Everett had 13, Taylor 12, and Ashton Pomrehn 10.

The Jacks outrebounded the Otters 45-38 in the win.

"I thought we initiated contact and started the physicality, and I think we ended it," said Kinder. "We did a nice job of sustaining aggressive basketball over 40 minutes of time without getting into too much foul trouble."

HSU now turns its attention to next Saturday's contest at Stanislaus State with a 7:30 p.m. tip time.