HAYWARD, Calif. --- The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team is back in action this weekend with a pair of non-conference games at the 13th annual Ron Logsdon Classic, hosted by Sonoma State. The Pioneers (0-2) will take on Fresno Pacific on Friday, followed by a re-match with Dominican University on Saturday. Both games are scheduled to tip-off at 5:30 p.m.
WEEKLY RECAP
The Pioneers had an exciting weekend of basketball at the PacWest/CCAA Challenge in San Rafael, but they ended up on the losing end of both games. In last Friday's season opener, East Bay fell to Academy of Art, 97-80. The Pioneers trtailed by just four at halftime, but the Urban Knights used a 12-2 second half run to pull away as they set a school record for total rebounds.
Gabe Kindred led the team with 23 points in the loss.
The following night, East Bay did battle with the tournament hosts, Dominican. It took two overtimes before the Penguins finally outlasted the Pioneers, 110-106. Eight players fouled out of the game as Dominican erased an 11-point halftime deficit. Kindred poured a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and
Mark Samuels added 26 points as both seniors logged over 45 minutes of court time.
Jarred Jourdan (12.0 ppg) and
Jacari Whitfield (11.0 ppg) also scored in double figures in both contests.
AWARD-WINNING PERFORMANCE
Despite the two losses, Kindred's red-hot scoring earned him CCAA Player of the Week honors for Nov. 4-10. He averaged 23.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 60.9 percent from the field and knocking down 15-of-22 free throws. It's the first CCAA weekely award for the Pioneers since Samuels claimed the honors during the 2011-12 seaon.
SCOUTING THE SUNBIRDS
FPU is 1-1 to start the season after going 21-9 in 2012-13. They lost a tight game to Simon Fraser, 69-67, and blew out UC Merced, 95-64. Malcom Griffin leads the Sunbirds averaging 20.5 points and 7.5 assists per game so far.
PELICAN PREVIEW
Dominican went 2-0 at their tournament last week, beating Humboldt State amd Cal State East Bay while shooting 50.8 percent from the field. Myles Carrillo put the team on his back in the second overtime to secure the win over the Pioneers, finishing with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Dominique Taplin added 29 points and also grabbed 11 boards.
