HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team hits the road this weekend for its first trip to Southern California this season. The Pioneers (6-6, 3-3 CCAA) will visit UC San Diego on Friday night, followed by No. 14 Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday night. CSUEB will be looking to match last year's San Diego/San Bernardino trip in which they defeated both squads on the road.
WEEKEND RECAP
East Bay returned from the holiday break last Friday against an extremely talented Cal Poly Pomona squad. The Pioneers hung with the defending conference champs most of the game despite shooting just 34.5 percent from the field and going 5-for-24 on three-pointers.
Mark Samuels put up 22 points, but East Bay fell 66-52.
The next night, the Pioneers welcomed in Humboldt State and evened up their record with an 89-81 win over the Jacks. The team rebounded nicely to shoot 51.9 percent on field goals and 50 percent on threes.
Gabe Kindred led the way with 24 points (8-12 FG) as CSUEB improved its home record to 5-2.
IN CONTENTION
Although the majority of the conference schedule remains, the Pioneers are currently tied for sixth place in the CCAA with their 3-3 record. CSUSB and Cal State L.A. are both unbeaten, and Cal Poly Pomona sits at 5-1. This season, the CCAA will invite the top six teams to compete in the Championship Tournament in Ontario, Calif. Currently, East Bay is right in the mix for one of those postseason spots, which would be the team's first since joining the conference in 2009.
LEADING THE PACK
The Pioneers are the third-highest scoring team in the CCAA at 78.2 points per game. They lead the conference in three-point shooting (.383) and rank second in free throw percentage (.726). For the season, they've allowed almost exactly as many total points (940) as they've scored (939).
Kindred ranks fourth in the conference in scoring at 19.2 points per game and has notched double figures in all 12 contests. He leads the CCAA in steals (20) and made free throws (85) and ranks third in three-point shooting (.471). He gets the the free throw line an average of 9.0 times per game, by far the best in the conference.
The only player in the CCAA who has shot better than Kindred from long range this year is teammate
Nick Grieves, who leads the conference in both three-pointers made (30) and percentage (.500).
Jacari Whitfield has also knocked down 30 triples this season to share the top spot with Grieves on that list.
Ryan Hebebrand notched 12 points and eight rebounds on Saturday, giving him at least eight boards in five of the past six games. The senior ranks fourth in the CCAA averaging 6.9 rebounds a game.
Samuels (45), Whitfield (39), and Kindred (35) are all among the top eight players in the conference in total assists. In addition, with 39 points over the weekend, Samuels now has 1,190 for his career, this third-highest total in school history.
SCOUTING UC SAN DIEGO
The Tritons started the season strong, beating Academy of Art and Humboldt State and losing at Cal State San Bernardino in overtime. However, UCSD lost a pair of home games last weekend to Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus, dropping their conference record to 1-5. The Tritons rank 11th in the CCAA in field goal percentage (.426) and are the only team to attempt more three-pointers than East Bay. Their opponents are shooting 40 percent from long range. UCSD is led by point guard James McCann (14.0 ppg, 5.8 assists/game) and forward Drew Dyer (12.7 ppg, 6.2 rebounds/game, 50% FG). East Bay is 3-5 vs. UCSD since 2009, including a 72-49 blowout win in their last trip to RIMAC Arena.
SCOUTING SAN BERNARDINO
The Coyotes climbed to No. 14 in the national rankings this week after winning their ninth straight game. Last weekend, they defeated Chico State 84-81 and Cal State Stanislaus 87-72. CSUSB is the second-highest scoring team in the conference at 82.3 points per game and are among the top outside shooting teams. They also lead the CCAA in team blocks. The Coyotes have a formidable frontcourt in Jordan Burris (15.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 61.8% FG) and Andrew Young (15.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 61.0% FG) and argulably the best guard in the conference in reigning CCAA Player of the Week Lacy Haddock (14.4 ppg, 6.2 apg). East Bay is 2-6 vs. CSUSB since 2009, including an 82-72 victory last year at
Coussoulis Arena.
