CAL ST. MONTEREY BAY 70,UC SAN DIEGO 57 FINAL BOX SCORE  |  POSTGAME VIDEO

SCOREBOARD  1  2  OT  FINAL UC San Diego (12-9, 8-9 CCAA)  22  35  57 Cal St. Monterey Bay (9-11, 7-10 CCAA)  30  40  70

TOP PERFORMERS

OTTERS No. STAT No. TRITONS Devin Murphy 18 Points 21 James McCann Greg Anderson 7 Rebounds 9 James McCann Alex Fertig 3 Assists 3 James McCann

SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team kept its CCAA Tournament hopes very much alive with a crucial 70–57 win over visiting UC San Diego Friday night in The Kelp Bed.

The win pulled the Otters (9–11, 7–10 CCAA) to within a game over UCSD (12–9, 8–9) in the CCAA standings. Both teams have five games remaining and as they chase three other teams for the final three CCAA Tournament bids.

The win also lifted CSUMB's winning–streak to a season–best three games, its longest since winning three straight from Dec. 8–30, 2012.

The Otter bench did much of the damage, out–scoring the UCSD reserves 29–6. Junior guard Devin Murphy (Sacramento/Sierra College) led that group, coming off the bench to score a season–high 18 points, including a season–best 3–of–4 effort from beyond the arc. Freshman post player Isaiah Smith (Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS) didn't come off the bench, but made his second career start a solid one with 10 points.

The teams played through four ties and eight lead changes in a first half that remained tight until a Ryan Nitz (Rancho Cucamonga/Chaffey College) layup broke a 15–15 tie and gave the Otters a lead they would never relinquish. A Nitz baseline jumper put CSUMB up 30–22 at the half.

UCSD found a way to hang around, thanks in large part to James McCann, who single–handedly kept the Tritons from falling out of contention for most of the second half. It wasn't until Murphy's third trey of the game that the Otter lead finally grew to double digits, 51–41. UCSD never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

In addition to Murphy and Smith, Nitz scored 15 points and Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) scored 14 with a game–high three assists.  McCann led all scorers with 21 points.

CSUMB will have its work cut out to try to run its winning streak to four when CCAA leader and No. 12 ranked Cal State San Bernardino visits for a 7 p.m. tip. The Otters will be looking for their third consecutive win over at top 25 team, having beaten then No. 25 Chico State and then No. 18 Cal Poly Pomona in its last two attempts.