HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team competes at home for the final time in the regular season Saturday afternoon and will celebrate "Senior Day" prior to their 3 p.m. game against Cal State Monterey Bay. 

There will be a brief ceremony to honor seniors Juwan Anderson, Deiondre Bird, Patrick Marr, and Evan Wardlow before tip-off, and then the Pioneers will put their 11-2 home record on the line against the Otters.

BATTLE OF THE BAYS
East Bay can pick up another point against CSUMB in the yearlong "Battle of the Bays" competition between the two schools. The Pioneers currently lead 12-10 after both the men's and women's hoops teams defeated Monterey back in December. There is another point on the line Saturday afternoon.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE WEST
It has been a historic season in many ways for Cal State East Bay, and that continued this week when the Pioneers appeared at No. 8 in the first iteration of the NCAA committee's official West Region rankings. It's the first time since re-joining Division II in 2009 that CSUEB has been ranking in the top-10 regionally.

The Pioneers notched the program's first 20-win season since 1999-00 with a one-point win over Sonoma State last Friday. They enter the final three regular season contests clinging to first place in the CCAA by one game, looking to hang on and secure their first-ever CCAA championship. The squad also has the goal of staying in the top-eight in the West to earn a berth to the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time since 1985-86.

DEFENSIVE MINDED
The Pioneers have been strong in all areas of the game en route to a 20-5 overall record, but they continue to post particularly impressive defensive numbers. Heading into Saturday, the team ranks No. 2 in the CCAA in scoring defense, No. 4 in rebounding margin, and No. 1 in three-point defense. Opponents are shooting just 29.3 percent from three against them, the third-lowest figure in the nation.

STRENGTH OF AN ART
Junior Ant Navarrete turned in a huge performance last week as CSUEB topped both SF State and Sonoma. He scored 22 against the Gators, then racked up a season-high 28 points against the Seawolves, added 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the year. The San Lorenzo native was ridiculously efficient, going 24-for-30 from the field (80 percent) in the two games. On Tuesday, he was rewarded with his second CCAA Player of the Week award this season. Navarrete ranks in the top five in the conference in both rebounding and field goal percentage overall.

RECORD WATCH
Three weeks ago, Anderson became the program's all-time career assist leader. Last Thursday, he dished out 16 assists against SF State to break the single-game school record. The senior has one more number in his sights. Pioneer Hall of Famer Michael Harris's single-season assist record of 150 has stood for more than 30 years, and Anderson heads into Senior Day with 128 this season. Overall, the Oakland native ranks second in the CCAA in both assists and assist-turnover ratio.

SCOUTING CSUMB
It has been a very tough season for the Otters, who have just two wins and rank near the bottom of the conference in most statistical categories. They have three players averaging double figures in scoring in Jahvon Johnson (12.6 ppg), Koen Sapwell (12.2 ppg), and Charlie Tooley (11.1 ppg). East Bay was victorious by a score of 79-72 when the teams met in Seaside on December 30th.