ARCATA, Calif.--- To say that the CCAA Tournament race is heating up would be an understatement at this point. Six teams sit within just one game of each other with only two games remaining in the regular season to determine the last four teams headed to the conference tournament in Turlock, Calif. on March 2-4.
The Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks hope to be one of those teams. The Green & Gold will close out the regular season against Cal State San Marcos and Cal State Los Angeles this weekend with hopes of clinching their first CCAA Tournament berth since the 2018-19 season.
Things couldn't get much closer for the North Coast squad, who find themselves in a three way tie for third position with San Francisco State and Sonoma State. Behind them, Chico State, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State East Bay all share a 9-11 record.
For head coach
Tae Norwood, the mentality of "play desperate" can't be emphasized more, as the team will look to solidify their playoff position this weekend on the road after stumbling last weekend in their home finale against Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona.
"I told the guys, 'you have to win yourself into the tournament,'" head coach
Tae Norwood said. "We control our own destiny. Our goal is to go down south and try to get two wins to end the season. I want to be playing well before we go into conference [tournament] play."
The 'Jacks (12-14, 10-10 CCAA) first test of the weekend will come from second place Cal State San Marcos (16-9, 15-5 CCAA). The Cougars have already clinched a first round bye in the postseason tournament. The last time these two played, San Marcos escaped Lumberjack Arena with a narrow 68-63 victory.
"That's another game we let get away from us," the coach said. "We have to do a better job of guarding high ball-screen action. We definitely have to make some adjustments from last game."
The Cougars are led by Greg Milton III who sits fourth in the conference in scoring with 17.5 points per game (ppg). He sits one spot ahead of Lumberjack senior
Marlon Ruffin, who is averaging 17.2 ppg. Joel Mensah ranks fourth in rebounding with 7.6 rebounds per game while Jayce McCain sits first in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio.
On Saturday, the North Coast squad rematches with the Golden Eagles of Cal State Los Angeles (11-15, 8-12 CCAA) who they were able to defeat 68-64 the last time they met in January at Lumberjack Arena.
"They're a five-out motion team and they're going to really move the basketball to make you work," Norwood said. "They shoot it late in the shot clock and they really bank on you making a mistake defensively. We have to do a better job of communicating on the defensive end."
The stakes couldn't be higher as the regular season nears it's conclusion. Norwood hopes that after this weekend, his squad will cement itself a position in Turlock.
"I'm excited about the weekend," Norwood said. "This thing is winding down and we'd like to play come March."
Tip-off for Thursday's game is set for 7:30 p.m. at The Sports Center in San Marcos while Saturday's finale is set to start at 3 p.m. at The Cal State LA Gymnasium in Los Angeles. You can catch all the action live on ESPN 107.3 fm or on the CCAA Network.
