ARCATA, Calif. – In their second meeting this season, Humboldt State men's basketball took Cal State San Marcos to overtime, but this time the Green and Gold got the result they wanted. The Lumberjacks clinched a first round home game in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament with a 97-91 victory over the Cougars Thursday night in Lumberjack Arena.
 
HSU will host Cal State Monterey Bay in the first round of the CCAA Tournament on Tuesday, March 1 at 7 p.m. The Jacks wrapped the regular season with an 18-8 overall record and a 12-8 conference mark. Tuesday's home playoff game will be the first for the HSU men's basketball program since the 2011-12 season.
 
"San Marcos is a veteran team," said Head Coach Steve Kinder. "They communicate at a high level and don't panic when they get down in front of a hostile crowd. Tonight we made 31 free-throws, and that was a big difference from what we did when we played them on the road. Hats off to our seniors for playing tough basketball."
 
Despite shooting just 38.1 percent from the field and going 3-for-13 from outside the arc, the Jacks took a 37-34 lead into the locker room.
 
The first 20 minutes of action featured eight lead changes. HSU built a nine-point advantage with 10:03 remaining that helped it remain in front despite a 4-0 run by San Marcos to close out the half.
 
Malik Morgan opened arguably his best scoring performance of the season with 10 first-half points. He was 4-of-8 from the field and sank a pair of 3-pointers.
 
The Cougars opened the second half on a 15-3 run, and an Andrew Bournes' dunk with 16:12 left in regulation put them ahead 49-40. San Marcos' nine-point lead was its largest of the game.
 
HSU managed to erase its deficit late in the half and a Morgan layup with 1:19 remaining knotted the game at 74-74. Made free-throws by Thomas Witzel and Rakim Brown put the Jacks ahead by two with 11 seconds left, but a Darnell Taylor layup forced overtime.   
 
Back-to-back baskets to open the overtime period by Tyras Rattler and Witzel energized the over 1,200 enthusiastic Green and Gold faithful in attendance.
 
The Jacks opened up a 10-point advantage with 1:18 to play and closed out the game at the free-throw line. Witzel scored eight points in overtime and his 3-pointer with 1:58 remaining proved to be the dagger for San Marcos.
 
Morgan led all scorers with a career-high 24 points. Brown (19), Witzel (19) and Rattler (17) all reached double-figure scoring totals for HSU. Witzel also finished with a team-leading 10 rebounds and notched his second double-double of the season.
 
Five San Marcos scorers finished with 10 or more points. Bourne led the bunch with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The Cougars were charged with three technical fouls in the loss.
 
Now the Jacks can shift their focus to preparing for the Otters, a team they played less than two weeks ago.
 
"This is a great opportunity for our fan base," said Kinder. "We had a playoff atmosphere tonight. We have the opportunity to rest, go to class and take care of business tomorrow, and then we have three days of preparation without travel."