SEASIDE, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team dropped the first game of the 2022 Otter Invitational, 77-71 to Colorado School of Mines at The Kelp Bed Friday evening.
 

GAME SUMMARY

 
The game started fast for the Pioneers, who jumped out with the game's first eight points, with six of them coming from Grady Lewis. Cal State East Bay managed a lead that was built up to 12, 22-10 at the 9:41 mark of the first half after a 3-pointer from Tim Andreolli.
 
In the next four minutes plus, the Orediggers scored 15 unanswered points to take their first lead of the game. While the remainder of the half was close, Cal State East Bay took a 36-35 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
From the floor in the first 20 minutes, the Pioneers went 16-for-29 while Mines went 10-for-29.
 
Cal State East Bay, though not running away, built a seven point lead that was reached in the second half at the 14:22 mark on a 3-pointer from Garrett Pascoe, and eventually grew to nine, 57-48 at the 9:06 mark on a layup from Payden White.
 
Mines responded with the next 12 points, and led 60-57 at the 5:09 mark. Thereafter down the stretch, the Orediggers did not relinquish their lead and finished by winning 77-71.
 

NOTABLE STATS

 

• Lewis went 8-for-11 from the floor to finish with a team high 16 points. He also had a team-high nine rebounds.
• Pascoe had 10 assists, which was the first time since the 2018-19 season a Pioneer reached double-figures in assists.
• Defensively, Pascoe had one block and one steal.
• Cal State East Bay finished 30-for-61 in field goals and Colorado School of Mines finished 21-of-51 from the floor.
• Mines outrebounded the Pioneers, 35-30.
• Brendan Sullivan scored a game-high 25 points and led the Orediggers in scoring.

 

POSTGAME QUOTE

 
Cal State East Bay head coach Bryan Rooney on Friday's game:
"Tonight was a high level game between both teams. Mines is a well-coached, veteran team who will be in the NCAA Tournament. As I told our team after the game, two things can equally be true – we will never settle for moral victories and we will have an excellent season if we bring the same level of focus and fight every game that we had tonight."
 

RECORDS

 
Cal State East Bay: 1-3
(RV) Colorado School of Mines: 3-0
 

UP NEXT FOR CAL STATE EAST BAY

 
A quick turnaround for the Pioneers in the Otter Invitational, as Cal State East Bay takes on Alaska from The Kelp Bed on Saturday afternoon with a 3 p.m. tipoff. The last meeting between the Pioneers and Nanooks was nearly a year ago, as Alaska defeated CSUEB, 98-89 in overtime on November 20, 2021.