HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Pioneer men's basketball team will open the 2017-18 basketball season hosting Montana State-Billings (Nov. 10) and Seattle Pacific (Nov. 11) in the Pioneer Challenge.
 
The Pioneers will take on Montana State-Billings at 2:00 p.m. and will complete the Pioneer Challenge with a contest against the Seattle Pacific at 2:00 p.m.  Both games will be held at Pioneer Gymnasium on the campus of Cal State East Bay.
 
East Bay is coming off a 13-15 mark in 2016-17 with a 6-14 record in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play and were picked to finish 11th in the CCAA Preseason Poll.
 
This will be the first regular season game for first year head coach Bryan Rooney as a Cal State East Bay Pioneer after 10 seasons as the head coach California Maritime Academy, where he accumulated 200 victories and captured seven California Pacific (CalPac) Conference championships.
 
The Pioneers will return a handful of key players from last season's squad that finished with 13-15 overall record and a 6-14 mark in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) action. Juwan Anderson, Kyle Frakes, Druce Asah, Drew Bender and Jelani Mitchell all played prominent roles for the Pioneers in 2016-17.
 
Juwan Anderson led CSUEB with 4.7 assists per game and 27 steals. Anderson also led the conference in with a 2.8 assist to turnover ratio while leading the Pioneers in assists in 20 of their 28 games played. He also shot 86.8% from the foul line while registering 6.7 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Druce Asah finished third on the team with 10.7 points per contest on 41.7% shooting from the the field. Asah was second on the Pioneers with 51 made 3-pt field goals on 38.3% accuracy from long distance.
 
Drew Bender averaged 6.0 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, while finishing second on the team with 2.1 assists per outing. Bender compiled four double digits scoring efforts including a career best 19 points with five made three-pointers against SF State (Feb. 11, 2017). Kyle Frakes played in 27 games, making 18 starts. Frakes averaged 17.1 minutes, 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds while shooting a team-best 65.1% from the field. He finished second on the team with 12 blocks and ranked third on the team with 105 rebounds including 40 offensive boards.
 
The Pioneers will also look for contribution this season from Patrick Marr, Jordan Balser, Deiondre Bird and Wyatt Maker, all of whom utilized redshirts last season. Freshman Keshawn Bruner highlights a group of newcomers, including John Duff, Marko Cuze, Bobby Santos, Brycen Wight, Jordan McGlory and Justin Vigil, who will look to capitalize on their opportunities for East Bay this season.
 
PIONEER POINTS
In East Bay's only exhibition match of the season against Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo), sophomore guard Druce Asah was on fire in the Pioneer's first game action against outside competition for the the 2017-18 season. Asah erupted for a game-high 29 points on seven for nine shooting from three-point range and 11-for-16 from the field for the game. He added three rebounds in 31 minutes of action.
 
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before a late run by Cal Poly gave the Mustangs a 32-31 lead at halftime. East Bay hot beyond the arc in the first half connecting on seven of their ten attempts.
 
Cal State East Bay kept Cal Poly in reach throughout the second half tying and even game four times before the Mustangs broke a 46-46 tie with an 8-0 run. Senior forward Jelani Mitchell was the only other Pioneer to score in double figure with 10 points in 20 minutes off the bench on 3-for-4 shooting from the floor.
 
The Mustangs narrowly edge out the Pioneers on the battle for boards with a 39-37 rebounding advantage. Both teams made 38 percent of their floor shots, but Cal Poly connected on 29 of 40 free throws while East Bay went to the line just 14 times, with eight makes. East Bay finished with 14 assists as a team to just 10 from Cal Poly.
 
Senior center Kyle Frakes paced the Pioneers with eight rebounds to go with seven points, two assists and a steal on 3-for-6 shooting in 21 minutes on the court. Junior point guard Juwan Anderson dished out a game-high seven assists. Anderson compiled five points and collected four rebounds in 30 minutes.
 
Sophomore Jordan Balser added five points, a block and a steal while freshman Wyatt Maker chipped in four points in 2-for-4 accuracy in only 10 minutes.
 
SCOUTING MONTANA STATE-BILLINGS
The Montana State-Billings Yellowjackets finished the 2016-17 season with a 14-15 record and a 9-11 mark in GNAC play. The Yellowjackets played Rocky Mountain College in the Fortin Center last Tuesday in their only exhibition contest of the season. MSUB earned a win over the cross town foe with the help of 18 points from senior point guard Kendall Denham. Denham led the team with three three-pointers in the contest and posted six assists in the 82-75 victory. MSUB has played East Bay the past three seasons in tightly contested games in which the Pioneers are 3-0. Last season the 'Jackets lost 54-50 in Billings, the closest game of the series.
 
SCOUTING SEATTLE PACIFIC
The Seattle Pacific Falcons completed the 2016-17 season with a 12-16 overall record and an 8-12 mark in conference action. The Falcons were tabbed to finish 5th in the GNAC Preseason Polls. Tony Miller was honored as the 2017 GNAC Freshman of the Year after ranking No. 11 nationally with 15 double-doubles. The 6-foot-6 sophomore forward averaged 19.0 points and 9.7 rebounds last season. Coleman Wooten is a 6-foot-5 junior forward who garnered All-GNAC honorable mention acclaim. He averaged 17.0 points and 8.8 rebounds in 2017, ranking second on the team in both categories. Wooten led the Falcons with 72 assists. Sophomore guard Gavin Long average 10.7 points while leading the team in field goal (60.1%) and 3-point (45.8%) percentage. The cast of remaining returnees is headlined by sharpshooters Sharif Khan and Hunter Eisenhower, along with junior post man Nathan Streufert. A pair of transfers will vie for immediate playing time, Nikhil Lizotte, who averaged 13.8 points last year at Humboldt State, and 6-foot-11 Christian Russell from Oregon State. Guard Braden Oslsen, from West Linn, Ore. is the lone freshman.