Jacks vs. East Bay (1/27)
The Humboldt State Men?s Basketball team had to deal with a tough situation last Saturday night. In the end, with two of their top scorers unable to help, the Lumberjacks fell to the # 5 ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills by the final score of 76-59. Now, Humboldt State is back at home for the next two weekends and they open the home stand with the Cal State East Bay Pioneers. The tip off is tentatively scheduled for 7:30 PM and the Pre Game Show will follow the completion of the Women?s Basketball game that starts at 5:30 PM. The broadcast will be on ESPN Radio 1340 AM and on the Internet at Humboldt State University Athletics. J.B. Mathers and the Hall of Famer Burt Nordstrom will be on the call from courtside at Lumberjack Arena.
Starting at 4:00 PM on ESPN Radio 1340 AM, there will be North Coast Game Night with J.B. Mathers and Tag Wotherspoon as they will have their show courtside before the doubleheader at Lumberjack Arena. You can also join our newly formed Facebook page at Welcome to Facebook. Search for North Coast Game Night and you can join the group and participate in the show discussion if the comments are good.
Humboldt State comes into the contest with a 10-2 record in the CCAA and 14-2 overall. I mentioned the defeat to Cal State Dominguez Hills last Saturday night in the intro. In that game, the Lumberjacks had to deal with an ankle injury that Brandon Sperling sustained in the win over San Francisco State. Things did not get better in the second half as Brian Morris was handed his second technical foul of the game which resulted in an ejection from the game. In the end, the Toros wore out the Lumberjacks and cruised to the 17 point win in the Torodome.
Let?s go inside the numbers from this game.
Humboldt State:
Team: 37.3% FG %, 25.0% 3 PT FG %, 53.6% FT %, 27 rebounds, - 7 rebounding margin, 8 assists, 7 turnovers, 3 steals, 1 block.
Individual Leaders:
Randy Hunter: 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists
Elliot Babcock-Krenk: 11 points, 3 rebounds
D.J. Broome: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals
Ernie Spada: 10 points
Cal State Dominguez Hills:
Team: 56.9% FG %, 57.1% 3 PT FG %, 77.8% FT %, 34 rebounds, + 7 rebounding margin, 16 assists, 12 turnovers, 3 steals, 1 block
Individual Leaders:
Zareh Zargaryan: 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
Marcquintice Davis: 17 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists
Robert Willhite: 16 points, 4 for 5 from the three point line
Michael Cox: 14 points, 10 rebounds
Looking at this game, both teams knew it was a big game from the start. The play was intense and physical throughout. The first half was evenly matched throughout and that plays into Cal State Dominguez Hills? hand throughout this season. The Toros play good enough to make it a competitive game in the first half. Then, they find that next gear in the second half to put teams away. That is exactly what happened when Robert Willhite started hitting three pointers in the second half. Willhite hit all four of his three pointers in the second half to break the game open.
I mentioned that Brian Morris got ejected from the game. I am still wondering how he got the first technical foul. I heard there was a lot of smack talking throughout the contest and I felt there needed to be a double technical foul issued at some point to reestablished control of the game. That never happened.
The second technical foul on Morris was legit. The outcome of the game was similar to a West Regional Semifinal game in 2006 when Chaminade?s Zach Whiting was tossed from the game against Western Washington for throwing an elbow. I?m still looking for the clip that I remember was on YouTube a few years ago to illustrate my point, but I have not found it as of this time. Since Morris was ejected from the game, he will have to sit out upcoming game against Cal State East Bay per the CCAA rules.
Cal State Dominguez Hills might have gotten round one, but I will guarantee round two will be more intense. I would not be shocked if there is a round three and a final round which would be round four before this season is over.
Let?s look at the Cal State East Bay Pioneers.
Cal State East Bay comes into the contest with a 0-10 record in the CCAA and 2-14 overall. Since the first meeting back at the end of December, the Pioneers have lost all seven of their games as their losing streak is now sitting at ten games. During the losing streak, they had chances to get a win over Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona. I mentioned that the Pioneers are guard oriented, but the problems have been on the defensive end of the court as the opponents are shooting over 50% from the field this season and they are grabbing 8 more rebounds per game than the Pioneers. Cal State East Bay has not won a game on the road (0-6) this season, but they are a hungry program looking for a win.
Let?s go inside the numbers.
Humboldt State:
Team: 79.2 points per game, 46.8% FG %, 33.8% 3 PT FG %, 75.1% FT %, 35.6 rebounds per game, 13.3 assists per game, 12.8 turnovers per game, 6.9 steals per game, 2.5 blocks per game
Opponents: 67.9 points per game, 45.4% FG %, 35.2% 3 PT FG %, 68.4% FT % 30.3 rebounds per game, 12.6 assists per game, 16.6 turnovers per game, 4.9 steals per game, 2.1 blocks per game.
Players to Watch:
Randy Hunter: 15.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 53.7% FG %
Kyle Baxter: 9.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg
Cal State East Bay:
Team: 60.2 points per game, 39.3% FG %, 30.0% 3 PT FG %, 65.0% FT %, 28.9 rebounds per game, 12.1 assists per game, 13.8 turnovers per game, 6.4 steals per game, 1.6 blocks per game
Opponents: 74.4 points per game, 50.3% FG %, 39.2% 3 PT FG %, 69.9% FT %, 36.9 rebounds per game, 15.2 assists per game, 14.6 turnovers per game, 5.6 steals per game, 3.4 blocks per game.
Players to Watch:
Mark Samuels: 12.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 3.4 apg
Roshun Wynne: 11.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.3 apg
Will Freedman: 11.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 91.8% FT %
Here are the Keys to the Game:
1. Pace of the game. With Brian Morris out for this game due to the ejection in the Cal State Dominguez Hills, it limits the output that could come from the frontcourt. Add in the possibility that Brandon Sperling will be limited in this game, you are then looking at eight players that needs to step up. Technically, Humboldt State might only play six players in the upcoming game as the end of their bench has very limited experience on the court. Based on that information alone, there will be a ton of minutes that will be logged in this game. I think it will be important to pick the right times of the game to run and to slow it down in order for Humboldt State to win this game.
2. No bad fouls. With a limited roster for this game, it will be important that the Lumberjacks do not commit a lot of bad fouls. It will be important for Humboldt State to get thru the first half at around nine fouls at the most. If that is the case, then I think the Lumberjacks can do most things they want to do in the second half. I would expect a lot of zone defense in this game for Humboldt State to limit the possibility of foul trouble.
3. Dominate the glass. The Pioneers have struggled all season on the glass. I think it will be important for the Lumberjacks to limit the Pioneers to one shot on the offensive end of the court and then get into the offensive set on the other end of the floor. I think one guy to watch in rebounding along with Randy Hunter is Kyle Baxter. Baxter needs to use his 6?9? frame to secure rebounds on the defensive end of the court if Humboldt State wants to get the win over the Pioneers.
Here are the Predictions:
Score: Humboldt State 77, Cal State East Bay 65
Scorer: Hunter 21
Rebounder: Hunter 11
Assists: Baxter 4
Steals: Broome 3
Blocks: Baxter 2
Turnovers: 14
FG %: 51%
3 PT FG %: 41%
FT %: 78%
Rebounding Margin: Humboldt + 9
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