Ready or not, Cal State San Bernardino's men's basketball team opens the regular season tonight at Pepperdine University against an NCAA Division I foe coming off a 9-23 season with four of its five starters returning.
The 7 p.m. game can be heard on KCAA 1050 AM in San Bernardino or via audio webcast at
www.csusbathletics.com (click on Listen Live).
The Coyotes have been tested just once so far in 2009-10, a 68-64 victory over Westmont College of Santa Barbara in an exhibition game Nov. 11 in Palm Desert. Pepperdine is coming off back-to-back losses to University of Pacific (67-64) and Long Beach State (67-58).
Pepperdine, a member of the West Coast Conference (home to powerhouse Gonzaga) did play an exhibition against Westmont College and won easily, 75-48.
The Waves are led by guard Keion Bell who has scored 41 points in the team's first two outings. He is one of 11 letter winners on the squad.
The Coyotes have just one starter back -- guard Lawrence Tyson, their third-leading scorer in a 20-10 season in 2008-09 that led to a CCAA co-championship with Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills.
However, in the exhibition game against Westmont, senior post Devon Davis scored 18 points and Bryan LeDuc, a transfer from University of the Pacific, had 17 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Aaron Hill, a transfer from Fresno City College, dished off a game-high nine assists.
The Coyotes were only able to suit up nine players for the Westmont game because six others await clearance to play after the fall quarter at CSUSB. Head Coach Jeff Oliver was forced to use several players over 30 minutes each in the Westmont game due to lack of depth.
CSUSB did add one player this week who is eligible to play tonight, giving the Coyotes some depth at point guard. Thaddius Sterling, a junior ransfer from Illinois Central College, will suit up and be available, Oliver said.