CSUDH Men's Basketball Weekly
December 11, 2006

This Release in PDF

On Tap: The Toros have one game on tap this week as they host The Master’s College for the 14th all-time meeting this Saturday, with first tip scheduled for 7:30 pm in the Torodome. CSUDH leads the overall series, 7-6.

Last Week’s Recap: A Jamaal Barnes 360-degree breakaway dunk 5:43 into the second half capped a stellar offensive performance in which Shamont Brown nailed 9 of his 11 shots from the field to lead the Toros to an easy 83-51 rout over visiting University of Hawai’i at Hilo on Thursday night in the Torodome.

The Toros welcomed the Vulcans, who had won all previous four meetings in the two teams’ history, by scoring 22 of the game’s first 26 points in the first 10 minutes of play, eventually pushing its lead to 29-8 three minutes later on a Brown jumper, two of his 12 first half points. CSUDH kept the heat on after intermission, keeping its lead at the 20-point mark, which included Barnes’ electrifying dunk at 14:17 in the second half. The Toros used an 11-0 run at the 13:36 mark to push a 21-point lead to 62-30 on a lay-up by freshman Demetrius Love, after which Brown gave the Toros their biggest lead of the night at 67-34, closing the door on the Vulcans.

Around the CCAA Conference: Here’s a look at the rest of the conference schedule for this week: Monday - Vanguard @ Cal Poly Pomona; Tuesday - Seattle Pacific @ Cal State San Bernardino; Thursday - Cal State Bakersfield @ Pepperdine; Friday - Western Oregon vs. Cal State Monterey Bay, Notre Dame de Namur @ Humboldt State; Saturday - Grand Canyon @ Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Stanislaus @ Chico State, TBA @ Humboldt State, Cal State L.A. @ Redlands, Cal State Monterey Bay vs. TBA.

Toros Amongst the CCAA’s Best...: Here’s how the Toros compare with the CCAA’s with games played through December 10:

• FG% - Shamont Brown (1st, 63%), Carlos Rivers (T18th, 45%)
• Assist/Turnover Ratio - Jonathan Toliver (2nd, 4.20), Carlos Rivers (15th, 1.29), Shamont Brown (20th, 1.00)
• Blocks - Trevon Bryant (3rd, 1.2 bpg), Gabe Bernard (T7th, 0.8 bpg), Shamont Brown (11th, 0.6 bpg), Demetrius Love (T11th, 0.6 bpg)
• Assists - Jonathan Toliver (5th, 4.2 apg), Carlos Rivers (T11th, 3.6 apg), Shamont Brown (T17th, 3.0 apg)
• 3-Pt. FG Made - Jonathan Toliver (T7th, 2.00), Carlos Rivers (12th, 1.8)
• 3-Pt. FG% - Jonathan Toliver (8th, 42%)
• Rebounds - Jamaal Barnes (9th, 6.6 rpg), Shamont Brown (12th, 5.8 rpg), Gabe Bernard (T20th, 4.6 rpg)
• Scoring - Shamont Brown (12th, 13.2 ppg).

...And as a Team:

• Blocked Shots - 1st (4.4 bpg)
• Assist/Turnover Ratio - 1st (1.21)
• FG% Defense - 1st (42%)
• Rebounding Offense - 2nd (38.8 orpg)
• Rebounding Margin - 2nd (+4.2)
• Assists - 2nd (17.4 apg)
• Scoring Margin - 5th, (+2.2 ppg)
• Turnover Margin - T5th (+1.0)
• Scoring Defense - T5th (69.4 papg)
• FG% - 6th (45%)
• Scoring Offense - 6th (71.68 ppg)
• Steals - 7th (6.8 spg)
• Rebounding Defense - 7th (34.6 drpg)
• 3-Pt. FG% Defense - 9th (37%)
• 3-Pt. FG% - 10th, (32%)
• FT% - 12th (60%).

What Can Brown Do For You?: Senior leader Shamont Brown has picked up his game to begin December, and the Toros have followed suit. In a close loss to Cal State Stanislaus on December 1, Brown nailed 6-for-11 shots from the field en route to scoring 12 points. In CSUDH’s first win of the year the next night against Chico State, Brown was even better as he drained 4-of-6 shots and hit 9-of-12 free throws in the 68-60 win. Then, in last Thursday’s blowout win against Hawai’i-Hilo, the New York native was nearly flawless, hitting 9-of-11 shots for a game-high 18 points as CSUDH walloped UHH, 83-51.

In the three contests, Brown’s field goal percentage has gone from .545 to .667 to .818 as CSUDH has won two of its last three games.

Common Sense: After going winless in their first three games to begin the 2006-07 season, the Toros have won their last two, playing efficient offense and in-your-face defense. In the month of December, the Toros have averaged 75.3 points per contest, while holding its opponents to 64 ppg average over that same stretch. In fact, as CSUDH has hovered over 50% shooting, the oppositions’ point totals have dwindled from 82 in the loss to Cal State Stanislaus to 60 and 51 in wins over Chico State and the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.

Mr. Consistency: Senior Carlos Rivers has quietly been Mr. Consistency in the early going, tallying double-figure scoring in his first four games, and nine points in the last contest. Rivers scored 11 points in the first two games of the year, and followed those efforts with 15-point and 13-point outbursts in the first CCAA weekend to kick off December.

Additionally, Rivers is shooting 80% from the charity stripe for the free throw-challenged Toros, and has drained 43% from behind the arc (9-for-21).

Sky Walkin’: Junior Jamaal Barnes is quickly making believers of the hype, with emphasis on the “high.” In the wins against Chico State on December 2 and against University of Hawai’i at Hilo last Thursday, Barnes pulled down a total of 15 boards, including several efforts which saw the transfer sky well above the players on the floor.

Additionally, against the Vulcans last Thursday, Barnes once again put his explosive jumping ability on display by throwing down a 360-degree dunk on one of many breakaway opportunities in CSUDH’s blowout win.

Taking Care of Business: Despite their 2-3 start, the Toros have done a solid job in taking care of the ball, boasting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.2, the best in the CCAA Conference. After 16 assists and 16 turnovers in the season-opener, CSUDH has 15 more assists than turnovers in their past 4 games, and have seen their opponents’ point totals dwindle from 84 to 82 to 60 to 51, no small coincidence in CSUDH’s modest two-game winning streak.

Ring the Alarm: An alarming statistic in the early going has been the (not-so) free throw line. The Toros are draining just 59.6% of their foul shots on the young season, compared to 75% for their opponents. Fortunately, CSUDH has gotten to the line 18 more times than their opponents, a great example of their aggressive play, but unfortunately, they have scored one less point from the charity stripe.

CSUDH’s free throw stroke has been so off that the Toros now are last in the CCAA Conference in free throw percentage.

The Bryant Watch: After destroying the CSUDH single-single mark with 52 blocked shots last season and needing just 44 to establish himself as the Toros’ all-time career blocked shot leader, senior Trevon Bryant collected six blocks in his first five games, bringing him to within 38 for the record. After tallying three blocks in his first three games, the 6’9” “Last Line” collected three blocks against Chico State on December 2 to then jump into the CCAA’s lead.

Last season, Bryant tallied his 38th block on February 24, against Cal State San Bernardino, surpassing the previous mark of 37 blocks set by former Toro great Anthony Blackman during the 1988-99 campaign.

What the Coaches Said: In a preseason poll conducted by the CCAA coaches, Cal State Dominguez Hills was predicted to finish 7th in the highly-competitive conference. CCAA-newcomer Humboldt State, which was tabbed by Street & Smith as No. 6 in its preseason poll but fell in its first two CCAA contests two weekends ago, was given 9 first-place votes to top the conference list, and was followed by Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Bakersfield and Sonoma State, which received 1 first-place nod apiece.

Cal State San Bernardino and UC San Diego preceded the Toros in 5th and 6th, respectively, while Cal State Stanislaus, Chico State, Cal State L.A., San Francisco State and Cal State Monterey Bay rounded out the 12 CCAA schools.

The Time is Now: From the 2006-07 season preview: The 2006-07 Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s basketball team is ready. Ready with eight returning players on a team that improved by two wins in conference and four overall after welcoming 10 newcomers and a coach in just his second year with last season’s squad. Ready after winning its last two regular season games of the year. And ready after five of its losses on the year were by three points or less.

In 2005-06, juniors Carlos Rivers and Shamont Brown, who was named to the 2nd-team All-CCAA, led the Toro offense, averaging 13.4 and 12.0 points per game, respectively, while fellow junior transfer Trevon Bryant anchored a revamped defense that saw him establish the CSUDH record for blocks in a single-season with 52, with his 2.36 blocks per game average placing him 15th in the NCAA, giving head coach Damaine Powell (right) ample reason to smile as the season kicks off this week at the SPU Thanksgiving Classic.

“For the first time since I’ve been here, I know my personnel,” says Powell confidently. “We kind of got on a roll toward the end but by that time, the season was over. But we felt good about ourselves. Now, we’ve got some talent and experience, and we’re playing to that. We have the potential to have a breakthrough year.”