HAYWARD, Calif.,-- The Cal State East Bay men's basketball program will travel south for a pair of California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) road games against Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills.
 
The Pioneers are 16-5 on the season with a 11-4 mark in conference play. East Bay is 7-3 in road game on the season with a 9-2 inside Pioneer Gymnasium after suffering back-to-back losses for the first time all year.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The No. 22 ranked Cal State East Bay men's basketball team suffered its first home loss of the season on Thursday night as visiting Cal State San Bernardino edged out the Pioneers by a final score of 74-73.
 
The Pioneers jumped out to an early advantage, leading by as many as 10 points less than five minutes into the game behind the hot shooting of Nai Carlisle. It was an extremely physical game in the early going, and as a result, it was tightly-officiated with the teams combining for 27 fouls in the first half. East Bay had opportunities to extend its lead, but struggled at the free throw line, allowing the Coyotes to climb back in it before halftime.
 
The teams traded the lead back and forth several times early in the second half. Then midway through the period, CSUSB caught fire, scoring on four straight possessions to grab the momentum and take their biggest lead of the night at 69-60 with just over five minutes to play.
 
Marr made one of two free throws to cut CSUEB's deficit to one. They sent the Coyotes to the line with seven seconds left, and CSUSB's Andres Villa missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Carlisle collected the rebound and dribbled up court as the final seconds ticked down. He got trapped by two defenders near the three-point arc and quickly got the ball to Anderson. The senior had just enough time to launch a very long three, but it missed the mark as the buzzer sounded.
 
Despite foul trouble for Navarrete and redshirt freshman John Duff, East Bay turned in a strong effort on the boards against the No. 1 ranked rebounding team in the nation. Offensively, San Bernardino shot a scorching 65 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game at 54 percent. The Pioneers were efficient from the field as well, finishing at 47 percent, but they did themselves no favors at the charity stripe with a season-worst 10-for-22 performance.
 
Carlisle knocked down four of his first five attempts from three-point range and led all scorers for the night with 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting overall. Anderson added 14 points, while fellow senior Evan Wardlow filled up the box score with 12 points, seven assists, and six boards.
 
Navarrete added eight points and six rebounds, and Deiondre Bird scored nine off the bench to notch his second-highest scoring output of the season.
 
For the first time this season, the No. 22 ranked Cal State East Bay men's basketball team has lost two straight games following a narrow defeat at the hands of Cal Poly Pomona Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Gym.
 
It was a historic day for the Pioneers, nonetheless, as senior Juwan Anderson dished out a season-high 10 assists to become the program's all--time career assist leader. The Oakland native now has 355 assists in less than three seasons, breaking the previous school record of 349 held by Jun Uchida (2006-10).
 
The game itself was truly a tale of two halves. The score was tight through most of the opening period until the Pioneers exploded offensively in the final three minutes before halftime. They rattled off a 14-1 run to stretch a narrow lead to double-digits, and went into the break leading by 14.
 
Unfortunately, their hot shooting ceased in the second. After hitting 58 percent from the field and going 5-for-11 from thee-point range in the first 20 minutes, the Pioneers shot just 28 percent and went 0-for-11 from long distance in the second half. As a result, Pomona chipped away at its deficit and finally took the lead with seven minutes remaining.
 
The Pioneers answered as Anderson set up John Duff for an alley-oop dunk, then Anderson found Deiondre Bird with a nice dish in the paint on the next possession. That put the Pioneers back ahead 59-56 with 5:27 remaining, but they were unable to score for the remainder of the contest. Pomona took the lead back with 4:27 left, and stretched it out a bit on free throws in the final minutes.
 
Anderson had eight points to go along with his 10 assists. Nai Carlisle also scored eight, while Ant Navarrete, Evan Wardlow, and Deiondre Bird paced the squad with 10 points apiece. Navarrete also posted team highs with six boards and five steals.
 
PIONEER POINTS
Sophomore Nai Carlisle and senior Evan Wardlow both joined the Pioneers this season as transfers from Division I schools, and both have been crucial additions -- particularly in conference play.
 
After reaching double digits just once in the first seven games of the season, Wardlow has now scored in double figures in 11 of the last 13 games, while averaging 5.3 rebounds per game during that span as well. Wardlow is scoring 12.5 points per game in CCAA play thus far, third best on the team and 16th in the league.
 
Carlisle is the 10th leading scorer in the CCAA during league games, averaging 13.3 points per game. The Indiana native has been incredibly efficient this season, shooting 53 percent from the field and 49 percent from long distance.
 
Senior Juwan Anderson was named CSUEB Player of the Week after he entered the Pioneer record books as the all-time assist leader in program history, reaching a career total of 355 in less than three seasons to break the previous record of 349 that has stood since 2010. He is second in the conference in assists per game with 4.7 (94) and continues to rank second in assist-turnover ratio (2.6). He's also shooting 87.2 percent from the foul line, which is third in the league. Anderson has made 75 of 86 shots from the foul line this season.
 
Ant Navarrete is leading the Pioneers in rebounding and second in field goal percentage. Navarrete is seventh in the league with 7.0 rebounds per contest and third in the CCAA shooting 50.5 percent from the field. He is averaging 11.8 points per game after scoring in double figures in 10 of the last 13 games. Navarrete was named CCAA and CSUEB Player of the Week last week, after leading the Pioneers in scoring for the men's hoops team this past week averaging 20.0 points and 7.0 rebounds, shot 62 percent, and went 3-for-6 from three-point range.
 
SCOUTING CAL STATE LA
The Cal State L.A. Golden Eagles enter the outing against the Pioneers with a 12-9 mark in the season with a 4-5 record showing in CCAA games after falling to San Francisco State before defeating Sonoma State to close out the weekend. Muhammed Fard is leading Cal State LA with 11.7 points and 2.5 rebounds. Devin Means is adding 11.1 points and 3.2 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
 
SCOUTING DOMINGUEZ HILLS
The Dominguez Hills Toros come into the matchup with Cal State East Bay with a 10-9 overall record on the season with an 8-6 mark in conference action. Colten Kresi is tops on the Toros with 11.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. David Howard is adding 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds for Cal State L.A.