BOX SCORE

CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 76, Notre Dame de Namur 71 FINAL BOX SCORE   |  POSTGAME VIDEO

SCOREBOARD  1  2  OT  FINAL Notre Dame de Namur (0-4)  36    35  71 Cal St. Monterey Bay (2-0)  37  39  76

TOP PERFORMERS

OTTERS No. STAT No. ARGONAUTS Alex Fertig/ Ryan Nitz 17 Points 19 Don Washington Greg Anderson 8 Rebounds 8 Don Washington Evan Zeller 3 Assists 8 Simon Enciso

SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team didn't win any style points Saturday night in its home opener against Notre Dame de Namur, but all that matters is it won the game, taking a 76–71 decision from the Argonauts in The Kelp Bed.

CSUMB improved to 2-0 for the first time since Head Coach Rob Bishop's (@Coach_RBishop) first Otters squad won seven in a row to open the 2008–09 season. That also has the distinction of being the only Otter team ever to start 3-0.

Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) and Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) led the way with 17 points apiece for the Otters. Brandon Cole (Vallejo/Napa Valley College) added 11 points while Greg Anderson (Murietta/Palomar College) chipped in 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Don Washington led all scorers with 19 points for NDNU (0-4).

The Argonauts used an early 7-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 14-6 with just six minutes elapsed. It took CSUMB the balance of the first half to erase that deficit, finally tying the game then forging ahead 37-35 on a Fertig 3-pointer and layup inside the final minute. Fertig and Nitz then combined to score the first seven Otter points of the second half as they slowly increased their advantage to as many as 14 points (66-52) before the Argonauts made a final rally to keep things interesting.

A Micah Dunhour layup pulled NDNU to within 71-68 with 49 seconds to play. But the Otters hit their final five free-throw attempts down the stretch to deny any hope of an upset.

CSUMB will conclude the nonconference portion of its schedule Tuesday when it heads to Wine Country to take on Dominican University for a 7 p.m. game. Fans can listen live on KRXA 540 AM and OtterAthletics.com. Live video will be available at DominicanAthletics.com.