POMONA, Calif. — In a game that featured the March Madness level intensity, the Cal State Monterey Bay men's basketball team stayed red hot in dramatic fashion when an Alex Fertig (Fresno/Buchanan HS) second chance 3-pointer beat the buzzer and No. 14 Cal Poly Pomona in a 67-65 Otter win Thursday night in Kellogg Arena.

Not only was it Fertig's second career buzzer-beating 3-pointer, it's the second time he hit one to beat a nationally-ranked team. He stuck a similar dagger into (then) No. 25 Chico State in January of 2014.

"Obviously, tonight was a huge win for us in our race for a top four seed and a home game in the CCAA Tournament," said CSUMB Head Coach Rob Bishop. "We played good 'D', battled through their runs and made big shots."

CSUMB (11-11, 9-7 CCAA) led for 37:27 Thursday night (Pomona led for only 56 seconds), but it almost wasn't enough. The Broncos scrapped all the way back to take a 65-64 lead on a Jordan Ogundiran 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining.

The Otters raced upcourt and fed Evan Zeller (Mission Viejo HS), who took a 10-foot floater that glanced off the back of the rim. But freshman Gregg Polosky (Danville/San Ramon Valley HS) out-fought three Broncos for the rebound and got the ball to Fertig at NBA range atop the key. Fertig's shot hit the front of the rim just after the buzzer sounded, bounced up and kissed the front of the rim again before falling softly through for the win.

The dogpile commenced at midcourt shortly thereafter.

"Gregg was awesome tonight and I couldn't be happier for Alex to hit that shot in his last game here," said Bishop.
Zeller led four Otters in double figures with 14 points to go along with a game-high five assists. Fertig had 13 points and six rebounds while Polosky scored a career-high 12 points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, including five offensive boards.

Jordan Faison led both teams with 18 points and 12 rebounds for Cal Poly (18-5, 11-5).

CSUMB heads north for an even bigger game Saturday night at Humboldt State. Humboldt is currently 10-6 in the CCAA race, one game ahead of the Otters. This will be the only regular season meeting between the Otters and Lumberjacks.