HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped in a home loss to Cal State Monterey Bay, 87-77, Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Gym.

The loss drops the Pioneers to eighth place in the conference standings, with road contests remaining at Stanislaus State this Thursday, Feb. 24, and at second-place Chico State on Feb. 26. The top six qualify for the CCAA Tournament beginning March 3 at Cal Poly Humboldt.

CSUEB (9-13, 7-9 CCAA) had won six of its last seven games entering Saturday, with the only defeat being to No. 3-ranked Cal State San Bernardino on Jan. 27.

Freshman guard DJ Sanders scored a season-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, while seniors Tone Patton and Justin Vigil scored 10 points apiece.

East Bay went on a spurt late in the second half on a driving layup by Sanders and a 3-pointer by Vigil to pull within two, and trailed 38-34 at halftime. 

However, a 13-4 run by Monterey Bay to begin the second half made it 51-38, which was too much to overcome.

It was the only matchup this season against the Otters, as the Pioneers have not yet played either Stanislaus State or Chico State this season, as the first matchups were canceled in early January.