A Double Loss for Otter Basketball

Evan FitzGerald, staff reporter

Evan_FitzGerald@csumb.edu

January 15, 2008

Along with over 200 people in attendance, the Humbolt State band chose to make an appearance to lend support to their team on Jan. 12. The added support was enough to push both the women's and the men's teams of Humbolt state to victory over CSU Monterey Bay.

The lady otters found themselves in a bind early as Humbolt State executed an effective full court press that led to multiple otter turnovers. Throughout the entire night the lady otters could not disassemble this defense, and at the half were behind 34-27.

The second half was much of the same for the lady otters as it was hard for them to break the full court press. At the end of the game, Humbolt State cruised to a 72-59 victory of CSUMB.

"The team played hard and our intensity was up," said Alma Lopez, a guard and Liberal Studies senior who had 15 points in the game. "You can expect a more focused and aggressive team next game."

The men's game was a different story as Dshon Cannon, a guard and TAT senior, had a hot hand and scored 12 points in the first half. Jose Sanchez, a guard and HCOM junior chipped in with 10 points to keep the otters close in the contest, the score being 44-42 at the half.

In the next half CSUMB started off slow and fell behind by more then 10 points only to be led back into contention by the shooting of Juston Willis, a guard and Business senior who had 14 points in the half. Joe Mitchell, a forward and Business junior had a double-double for the night with 15 points and 14 rebounds. These efforts helped the otters pull within three points with less than two minutes to go, though several fouls pushed them back to the final score of 86 to 80, with Humbolt State taking the victory.

"It was rough for two reasons," said Willis, "because of our losing record and because we were playing at home."

The next otter doubleheader will take place at the Kelp bed on Jan. 18, starting at 5:30 p.m. for the women's game.

For more information on the upcoming basketball games visit www.otterathletics.com.