Coyotes hit the road for home game

For the first time since Coussoulis Arena opened in 1995, Cal State San Bernardino's men's basketball team will be playing a home game away from campus.

The Coyotes, in an effort to reach out to faculty, staff and students at CSUSB's Palm Desert campus, are hosting Azusa Pacific University in an exhibition game at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night at College of the Desert, 43-500 Monterey St., Palm Desert.

CSUSB, ranked No. 20 in one national NCAA Division II poll and picked to win an eighth CCAA conference title by the conference coaches, will open the regular season on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Coussoulis Arena against University of Alaska-Fairbanks of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Although it is an exhibition game for CSUSB which does not count toward its season record, it is a regular season game for the Cougars.

The Coyotes are coming off an 83-62 win over Vanguard University in their exhibition opener last Friday night in Coussoulis Arena, led by senior guard Tim Denson with 19 points and senior forward Michael Frazier with 18 points.

APU is 1-1 after defeating Montana Western 77-69 in Salt Lake City on Nov. 7 before losing to Westminster (Utah) 83-69, also at Salt Lake City on Nov. 8. The Cougars played an exhibition game at USC on Nov. 3 and lost 85-64.

COYOTES VS. COUGARS - APU leads the all-time series 6-1, including last season's 78-75 win over overtime over the Coyotes in Coussoulis Arena. APU returning guard Mike Danielian scored 17 points and returning center Dave Burgess took down 14 rebounds in that game.

COYOTES VS. NANOOKS - Alaska-Fairbanks leads the series 2-1 and two big wins they were, too. Behind all-American Brad Oleson's 30 points, seven rebounds and four assists, the Nanooks downed the Coyotes 82-78 in overtime in the 2004 NCAA West Regional semifinals in Coussoulis Arena. Then, Oleson was present with 12 points and five assists as Fairbanks beat the Coyotes 66-59 in the 2005 West Regional quarterfinals at Western Washington.

YOTES NOTES - Coyotes shot 53 percent from the field in the win over Vanguard....Tim Denson was six-for-nine en route to 19 points and four assists and three steals....Michael Frazier hit six of 10 shots and was four-of-seven from three-point land for 18 points....DuBois Williams, a 6-6 guard, had 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals....freshman center Jordan Richard had 10 points, three rebounds and two blocked shots....junior guard Larry DeHughes had a game-high six assists.....senior Reggie Brown, who missed the Vanguard game due to a sore knee, is expected to play against APU....senior Devon Davis remains on the shelf with back problems....Devin Montgomery is still awaiting clearance by the NCAA....

PROBABLE STARTERS: For CSUSB - Lawrence Tyson, Tim Denson, Jordan Richard, Ryan Kinney and DuBois Williams. For APU - Mike Danielian, Dave Burgess, Dominique Johnson, Kimarley Williams, Mike Caffese or Mike Meza.

COUGAR CLIPS - Azusa Pacific is coming off a 24-11 season (14-6 in the GSAC conference (2^nd place)....team was ranked as high as No. 8 in NAIA and finished No. 15....program has won 13 GSAC titles, made 15 NAIA tournament appearances, including the last 12 in a row....The program's all-time record for men's hoops is 945-505.....Mike Danielian is the leading returning scorer at 10.7 ppg in 2007-08...Dave Burgess averaged 9.6 points and 9.1 rebounds a game with 21 blocked shots....in the team's first two games this season, Dominique Johnson scored 18 against Montana Western and 17 against Westminster Utah....Burgess had 15 points and seven boards against Western Montana.....

NANOOKS NIBBLES - Alaska-Fairbanks has a new coach in interim head man Clemon Johnson. He has two volunteer assistants - Ted DeLeon and John Mancuso.....last year's leading scorer, 6-8 forward Colin Matteson (13.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg with 40 assists, 10 blocked shots and 21 steals) is back along with forward Mladen Begojevic (11.4 ppg, 34 assists).....Matteson had a season-high 31 points in a loss to Saint Martin's last March...Matteson's young brother, freshman Evan Matteson, 6-9, joined the team this season...UAF opens the regular season Saturday night at Cal State Dominguez Hills in a 7 p.m. match..

BROADCAST - Thursday night's game with Azusa Pacific will be broadcast live on KCAA-AM in San Bernardino and webcast at www.csusb.athletics.com (click on Listen Live on home page). Mitch McClellan and Brett Malak will be courtside with the call. Sunday's game with Alaska-Fairbanks will be webcast only.