BOX SCORE

CAL ST. STANISLAUS 80, CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 68 FINAL BOX SCORE

SCOREBOARD  1  2  OT  FINAL Cal St. Monterey Bay (4-8, 2-7 CCAA)  39  29  68 Cal St. Stanislaus (10-3, 6-3 CCAA)  35  45  80

TOP PERFORMERS

OTTERS No. STAT No. WARRIORS Ryan Nitz 21 Points 23 Marcus Bell Greg Anderson 6 Rebounds 10 Marcus Bell Devin Murphy 5 Assists 7 Sam Marcus

TURLOCK, Calif. — Call it the New Math; where 14 is greater than 26. Friday night, 26 minutes of solid basketball by Cal State Monterey Bay proved not quite enough as a 14–minute, game–ending run by Cal State Stanislaus carried the Warriors to an 80–68 win in Fitzpatrick Arena.

CSUMB led by four at the half and by five, 50–45, with 14 minutes to play when Stanislaus began its surge. The Warriors held the Otters to just six points during the ensuing 11 minutes to spur a 27–6 run that denied the Otters a chance at their first road win since Nov. 19.

The Otters did a lot of things right Friday, especially in the first half when they shot 52 percent from the floor, 57 percent (4–of–7) from beyond the arc and, most impressively, 75 percent (9–of–12) from the free–throw line. They also committed just five turnovers in the first 20 minutes while forcing 10 from Stanislaus.

But all of that turned around in the second period when CSUMB cooled off from the floor (44 percent) while committing 10 turnovers and forcing just three.

Individually, junior swingman Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) led CSUMB with 21 points, his team–leading fifth 20–point game of the season. The Otters also got 14 points from Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) as well as 10 points and five assists off the bench from Devin Murphy (Sacramento/Sierra College).

CSUMB will get another crack at its first CCAA road win of the season Saturday night when it concludes its current 4–game roadtrip at Chico State. The Otters return home to host San Francisco State in The Kelp Bed on Jan. 24.