HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay Pioneers will complete their first home stand of 2017 with a contest against UC Santa Cruz.
 
The Pioneers will take on the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs in a mid week non-conference matchup on Wednesday, January 11. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. in Pioneer Gymnasium
 
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Pioneers battled to a 0-2 record to start of 2017. East Bay fell to Cal State San Marcos 108-109 in double overtime on Thursday, January 5 and suffered a 47-52 setback at the hands on UC San Diego on Saturday, January 7.
 
In the double OT thriller against San Marcos, both teams traded buckets and free throws in back-and-forth action all night, in what will likely end up as one of the best games of the year in the CCAA. The Cougars never led by more than five and the Pioneers largest lead of 14 came with 0:22 seconds to play in the first half.
 
Senior forward Micah Dunhour led East Bay with a season-best 31 points and 13 rebounds on 11-for-22 shooting and 7-for-8 from the foul line. Dunhour scored 27 of his 31 points after halftime, including 14 points in the overtimes. He also led the Pioneers with 44 minutes of game action.
 
Senior guard Jalen Richard continued his recent offensive outbreak erupting for 26 points on 8-for-16 shooting accuracy for the game and 4-for-9 from three-point land. Richard added seven rebounds and four assists in 42 minutes. Richard went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe.
 
Freshman wing Druce Asah finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. He shot 5-for-10 from the field and went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Asah added one assist and a steal on 38 minutes of gameplay. Asah sunk four of his five foul shots.
 
Sophomore point guard Juwan Anderson tallied 13 points and a team high eight assists. Anderson finished with a rebound and one steal on 38 minutes on the floor. Anderson remained perfect from the free throw line this season sinking all six of his free throws.
 
In the setback to UC San Diego, it was a tough, defensive outing from both clubs as both teams were held to under 40 percent shooting accuracy from the floor for the game.
Jalen Richard paced the Pioneers with 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field, including 4-for-6 from three-point land. He added four rebounds on a game high 36 minutes of action.
 
Senior Pierre Carter erupted for 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting off the bench, knocking down 4-for-6 from beyond the three-point arc. He finished with three rebounds, one assist and a block on 27 minutes of action.
 
Micah Dunhour tallied 10 points, five rebounds, four assists in 31 minutes on the floor.
 
Juwan Anderson led the Pioneers with five assists. He put in two points and grabbed three rebounds on 30 minutes of game play.
 
Junior guard Drew Bender led the Pioneers with a career high eight rebounds. He compiled one point, three assists and a steal in his second start of the season.
 
The Tritons controlled the paint outrebounding the Pioneers 40-29 and out scoring them in the paint 26-16 but East Bay bench outscored UC San Diego bench 16-10.
 
PIONEER POINTS
East Bay has two players in the top-10 in scoring with Micah Dunhour leading the CCAA with 16.8 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting accuracy, which ranks 7th in the conference. He is also 7th in the CCAA grabbing 7.2 rebounds per outing. He leads the conference with 33.6 minutes per game.
 
Dunhour has scored in double figures in 13 out the Pioneers 15 games. He is averaging 17.1 points per game in conference play.
 
Senior Jalen Richard is 7th in the CCAA scoring at a 14.5 per game clip. He currently sits 5th in the conference playing 33 minutes per game and is 17th in rebounding at 5.5 per contest.
 
Richard is tied with Dunhour with 17.1 points per game in CCAA action and has scored in double digits in nine out of the last ten games.
 
Sophomore point guard Juwan Anderson leads the CCAA with 5.4 assists per game and 3.5 assist to turnover ratio. Anderson has 76 assists and only 22 turnovers on the season so far. Anderson is averaging 6.0 assists in CCAA play.
 
He is adding 6.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals, which ranks 14 in the conference. Anderson is shooting a perfect 1.000 percent from the foul line sinking all 24 of his free throws this season.
 
Freshman wing Druce Asah is putting in 12.5 points per game, 21st in the CCAA on 44.1 percent shooting from the floor and 43.9 percent accuracy from three-point land, 6th in the conference. Asah is putting in 2.6 made three-pointers per outing.
Senior Pierre Carter is leading the Pioneer bench with 8.9 points and 3.3 rebounds on 42 percent shooting from the floor in 25.2 minutes of game action. Carter has three consecutive double figures scoring outputs for East Bay and six on the season.
 
Drew Bender in contributing 6.0 points, 2.5 assists and 2.4 rebounds. Bender grabbed a career best eight rebounds in the Pioneers last outing. He is shooting an impressive 83.9 from the charity stripe.
 
Kyle Frakes leads East Bay shooting 65.3 percent from the field. Frakes is compiling 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds.
 
East Bay is 6th in the CCAA in scoring offense averaging 72.2 points per contest. The Pioneers are 9th in scoring defense only allowing 71.1 points from opponents.
 
The Pioneers are 8th in the CCAA in field goal percentage, shooting 43.0 percent from the floor as a team.
 
CSUEB is 3rd in the conference with 132 three-pointers made so far this season and sits 6th in three-point field goal percentage defense holding opponents to 37.0 percent. The Pioneers are averaging 8.8 made three-pointer per game.
 
The Pioneers are 7th in the conference in free throw percentage connecting on 69.4 percent of their foul shots as a team.
 
East Bay is also 7th in rebounding defense, grabbing a little over 33 rebounds per game (33.1).
 
The Pioneers are 4th in the CCAA averaging 13.8 assists per game, with 207 total and 5th in the conference with 6.1 steals per outing, including 92 total. 
 
SCOUTING UC SANTA CRUZ
The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs are 8-9 overall on the season so far, including 2-2 in road games. They are on a current two game win streak after defeating Oberlin on 67-60 on December 31 and Skidmore 63-47 on January 2. Kyle Creighton leads the Banana Slugs with 12.9 points and 6.4 rebounds. Corey Cilia is chipping in 11.3 points and 2.1 assists.