POMONA, Calif. – Need a vacation from all of those Thanksgiving preparations? For all the college basketball fans in Northern California, the Wednesday matchup between Cal Poly Pomona and San Francisco State should provide plenty of entertainment.
It'll represent the conference opener, with the men's basketball teams starting their contest at 5 p.m. to allow for the Broncos to return home in time to break for the holiday Thursday.
CPP and SFSU last met in the first round of the 2011 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament with the Broncos securing a 69-66 overtime win at the same Main Gymnasium in San Francisco. Remarkably, four of the past five matchups between the two teams have been decided by four points or less.
Around the CCAA
Only two CCAA games will have been played by the time the Broncos and Gators go toe-to-toe on Wednesday. On Nov. 16, Cal State L.A. defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills, 73-58. This Tuesday night, UC San Diego hosts Cal State San Bernardino at 7 p.m.
Comparing Notes
So far in non-conference play, the Gators have stumbled to a 1-3 mark. After a pair of exhibitions with Division I foes UC Santa Barbara and Pacific, SFSU picked up a win over Academy of Art before suffering losses to Alaska Fairbanks, Concordia and Simon Fraser. It's obvious that the Gators have been a bit busier than the Broncos, who captured a 57-48 season-opening victory Saturday against Notre Dame de Namur.
Stripe Accuracy
Although the visiting Argonauts of NDNU stayed within striking distance of CPP Saturday at Kellogg Gym, the Broncos shot well enough at the free throw line to maintain their advantage through until the final buzzer. CPP finished the afternoon with a 14-for-16 effort at the charity stripe, led by a 7-for-8 performance by
Mitchel Anderson.
That 14-for-16 output, 87.5 percent, is the best showing from the Broncos in terms of percentage since the team went 26-for-29 (89.7) in the Elite Eight victory over Southwest Minnesota State on March 25, 2009 in Springfield, Mass., in front of 3,908 fans.
Scouting the Gators
The new SFSU squad is quite a bit different than the 2010-11 version that battled the Broncos into overtime this past March. Although All-CCAA First Team honoree and junior guard Nefi Perdomo is still an integral part of the Gators' attack, SFSU has also added a pair of transfers from Division I programs Cal State Bakersfield and Loyola Marymount.
Junior forward James Albright, formerly of the CSUB Roadrunners, dropped in 32 points earlier this season against Alaska Fairbanks, while Griffin Reilly, previously an LMU Lion, tallied 21 points in the Gators' loss to SFU. Both players are listed at heights of 6-foot-6.
On the Air
The Broncos' sports information office will be conducting a live audio broadcast of Wednesday's CCAA doubleheader from Main Gymnasium on the campus of SFSU. To access the stream, go to
www.broncoathletics.com/live.
