Men's Basketball | 1/4/2017 7:40:00 PM

 
Hayward, Calif. – After playing five of their first six California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) games away from Pioneer Gymnasium the Cal State East Bay Pioneers will return home for back-to-back home conference matchups.
 
East Bay will host Cal State San Marcos on Thursday, January 5 for "Pack the Wagon" night in Pioneer Gymnasium. The Pioneers will then receive a visit from UC San Diego on Saturday, January 7. Both games are set to tipoff at 7:30 p.m.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Pioneers closed 2016 with two tough road losses against Humboldt State and Sonoma State on December 30 and December 31.
 
In the 62-68 loss to Humboldt State, two Pioneers notched double figures. Senior Micah Dunhour paced the Pioneers with a game-high 22 points. He finished with a team best nine rebounds, including six on the offensive end. 
 
Dunhour added one assist and a block in 29 minutes on the floor while going 4-for-5 from the foul line.
 
Senior guard Jalen Richard added 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting, highlighted by 4-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc. He added two assists and a team-high two steals while playing all 40 minutes of the game.
 
Richard went 3-for-5 from the charity stripe.
 
East Bay outscored Humboldt State 16-10 in second chance points and fell short in the battle of the boards 38-36.
 
CSUEB competed down to the very last minute of play until a Lumberjack three-pointer with 1:10 to play put Humboldt State up for good.
 
In the 38-59 loss to Sonoma State, Pierre Carter was the Pioneers lone double digit scorer with 10 points off the bench. Carter finished with five rebounds, two steals, one assist and a block in 23 minutes of action. He knocked down two three-pointers during the game.
 
Druce Asah tallied seven points and two rebounds on a team high 31 minutes on game action. Asah tied Carter with a team best two made three-point field goals.
 
The Pioneers shot 24.1 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from three-point land, both season lows.
 
Cal State East Bay also lost the battle of the boards getting out rebounded 41-29 and outscored in the paint 36-12.
 
PIONEER POINTS
The Pioneers have three players in the top-15 in scoring in the CCAA. Senior forward Micah Dunhour leads East Bay with 16.2 points per game, which is 2nd in the conference, on 46.5 percent shooting accuracy from the field and 8th in the CCAA. He also sits 9th in the CCAA with a team best 6.9 rebounds per outing.
 
Dunhour is averaging 33 minutes per game, good for 2nd in the conference.
 
Senior Jalen Richard is 14th in the CCAA scoring at a 13.4 per game clip. He is second on the Pioneers with 5.5 rebounds per outing, 18th in the conference. Richard has been on a offensive tear as of late scoring 13 or more points in seven of the last eight games for the Pioneers.
 
Richard is also collecting 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals, both second on the team and 15th in the CCAA. He is 6th in the conference playing 32.1 minutes per contest.
 
Freshman wing Druce Asah is putting in 13.2, good for 15th in the conference, on 46.1 percent shooting from the field. Asah leads the Pioneers shooting 45.3 percent accuracy from beyond the three-point arc, which is 7th in the conference. He is averaging 2.6 made three-point field goals per game.
  
Sophomore point guard Juwan Anderson leads the CCAA averaging a little north of five assists per game (5.3). He also owns the top spot in the conference in assist to turnover ratio with 63 assists and only 20 turnovers through 12 games this season.
 
He is adding 6.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals, which ranks 11th in the conference. Anderson is shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and a perfect 1.000 percent from the foul line.
 
Senior Pierre Carter is leading the Pioneer bench with 8.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists on 24 minutes per game. He has four double figure scoring games and has been a solid source of three-pointers and defense for the East Bay second unit.
 
Junior Kyle Frakes leads the Pioneers so far this season shooting 67.4 percent from the field. Frakes is averaging 6.0 points and 3.8 rebounds.
 
Drew Bender has also been providing the Pioneers bench with quality minutes. Bender is talling 6.2 points, 2.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds while converting 89.3 percent of his shots from the charity stripe, second on the team.
 
East Bay is 6th in the CCAA in scoring offense averaging 71.4 points per contest. The Pioneers are 7th in scoring defense only allowing 69.6 points from opponents.
 
The Pioneers are 8th in the CCAA in field goal percentage, shooting 42.9 percent from the floor as a team.
 
CSUEB is 4th in the conference with 112 three-pointers made so far this season and sits 6th in three-point field goal percentage defense holding opponents to 32.9 percent. The Pioneers are averaging 8.6 made three-pointer per game.
 
The Pioneers are 5th in the conference in free throw percentage connecting on 70.9 percent of their foul shots as a team.
 
East Bay is also 6th in rebounding defense, grabbing a little under 33 rebounds per game (32.5).
 
The Pioneers are 4th in the CCAA averaging 13.7 assists per game, with 178 total and 5th in the conference with 6.9 steals per outing, including 86 total.  
 
SCOUTING CAL STATE SAN MARCOS
The Cal State San Marcos Cougars are currently 3-3 in CCAA play and 8-5 overall. The Cougars fell to Cal State Dominguez Hills 71-81 and defeated Cal State L.A. 73-71 in their two matchups last week. Ethan Alvano leads San Marcos with 15.5 points and 4.2 assists per game. Joe Boyd is adding 12.7points and 10.5 rebounds per contest for the Cougars.
 
Fourth year head coach Gus Argenal is 0-2 against Cal State San Marcos all-time.
 
SCOUTING UC SAN DEIGO The UC San Diego Tritons are currently undefeated at 6-0 in CCAA action and are 11-2 overall. The Tritons defeated Cal State L.A. 79-69 and Stanislaus State 67-57 in their two meetings last week. Chris Hansen leads UCSD with 14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds. Adam Kile is putting in 13.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per outing for the Tritons.
 
Head coach Gus Argenal is 0-5 all time against UC San Diego.