ARCATA, Calif. — With victory just seconds away, the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team couldn't make the key plays it needed, allowing Humboldt State to rally for a 108-100 overtime win Thursday night in Lumberjack Arena.
The Otters did a great job putting themselves in position to win, overcoming a nine-point deficit to take their first lead of the second half at 71-70 on a
Derrick Anderson (Pittsburg HS) putback with 7:02 remaining in regulation. A
Coley Apsay (Santa Clarita/Canyon HS) trey ignited a 9-1 run that gave the Otters their biggest lead, 88-83, with 24 seconds left.
After a Humboldt three-point cut the lead to two, CSUMB had a chance to take a four-point lead with 14 seconds remaining, but missed one of two free throws that would have all but iced the game. Humboldt guard Austin Bryan made the Otters pay for that miscue by draining a three with time running down to force overtime tied 89-89.
After trading baskets to start the overtime, Humboldt turned back-to-back CSUMB turnovers into five quick points and the Otters never owned a share of the lead again.
CSUMB placed seven scorers in double figures, led by freshman guards
Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) and Apsay with 18 and 15 points respectively. Post players
Kris Gallop (Vallejo/Los Medanos College) and
Kevin Loustale (Chico/Shasta College) added 14 points and eight rebounds apiece.
As a team, CSUMB shot a solid 52 percent (35-of-67) from the floor and out-rebounded Humboldt 45-27. But the Lumberjacks won the turnover battle 16-7 and knocked down a heady 57 percent (13-of-23) from beyond the arc to carry the day.
Rakim Brown led all scorers with 22 points for Humboldt.. Bryan added 18 and freshman Thomas Witzel came off the bench to score a career high 17 points for the Lumberjacks.
CSUMB will head from the frying pan into the fire after a travel day when it visits No. 4 ranked Cal Poly Pomona Saturday in Kellogg Gym.
GO OTTERS!
