Cal State men and women both playoff-bound

Both Cal State San Bernardino basketball teams will be facing familiar foes this week when West Region play convenes. For the women’s team the opponent is a little too familiar.

The men’s team, currently ranked 14th nationally, is seeded second behind the host team University of Alaska-Anchorage and will square off against No. 7 seed Brigham Young-Hawaii in its quarterfinal on Friday at 3:30 p.m. It is the Coyotes ninth playoff appearance in 10 years.

It will be a rematch between the same teams in the same round last year. The Coyotes rallied to win that game 71-68 en route to a championship and berth in the Elite Eight.

Coyotes coach Jeff Oliver was not surprised with that draw and is pleased to be playing a nonconference opponent.

‘I really didn’t want to have to play a team I have seen twice already,” he said. “With our defense teams have a lot better chance if they have seen it. We played it last year but we tweaked it a little and we’re playing it better.”

The Seasiders (18-7), runner-up in the Pacific West Conference to Chaminade, are led by a solid duo that consists of 6-9 sophomore Lucas Alves and senior guard Paul Peterson.

“They have the best big man in the region (Alves),” Oliver said. “They have a lot of the same team they had last year. We’re quite a bit different. It will be a test.”

The Coyotes (22-7) finshed as co-champion in the CCAA with Humboldt State, which is seeded No. 6 and will face No . 3 Chaminade. The third conference representative is No. 8 UC San Diego, which earned the automatic berth by winning the conference tournament and will play the host team.

Four CCAA teams made the women’s regional, which will be hosted by top seed Seattle Pacific 27-0), ranked No. 2 nationally.

The No. 5 Coyotes (21-7) will face CCAA rival and No. 4 seed UC San Diego (4-9) in their first game Friday at 5:30 p.m.

The teams have played twice with the Tritons winning both games - 68-60 and 66-56.

It isn’t a good matchup for the Coyotes who have not had an answer for the Tritons 1-2 punch of 6-footers Meaghan Noud and Michelle Osier. The two combined for 34 points in the first game between the teams and 57 in the second. They also boast a 6-2 center in Alexis Gaskin, giving the Tritons a big advantage in size and strength.
If there is any good news it is that the Coyotes have not played a good game against the Tritons.

“I don’t think we can play any worse than we did the last time we played them. So it has to get better,” coach Kevin Becker said.

“We need to shoot the ball better. Both times we played them we didn’t lose because we didn’t defend well. We held them in the 60’s. We have to shoot better.<WC> If we don’t it will be a long night.”

The Coyotes qualified for the regional last year for the first time since 1998 but lost their quarterfinal to another conference foe - Chico State.

They had been No. 4 last week but dropped a spot this week. That failed to matter because the 4 and 5 teams play.