SAN RAFAEL-I know what Tony Bennett said, but last Friday, CSUMB left their hearts in San Rafael.
I braved the Bay Area traffic to make it for the CSUMB Men's basketball Cal-Pac semifinal against #20 Dominican University. Unfortunately, the dream of a trip to the NAIA Nationals ended two games short as the Otters lost 94-81.
I arrived at the game just as it started. A small but vocal CSUMB rooting section was there, primarily of the womens basketball team who led cheers, and the wives of coaches Bill Trumbo and Pat Kosta. The Otters third and final game this season with Dominican University was a lot like the previous two: close for a while until the Penguins eventually pulled away.
The "third time is the charm" theory was to be tested vigorously in Fridays semifinal tilt. The Otters and host Penguins were neck and neck for the first 30 minutes of the game. The Otters' biggest lead was at 23-17, but the Penguins tied it less than a minute later.
Ironically, it was a technical on Dominican that started the downfall for the Otters.
Dominicans Lance Buoncristiani was called for a foul with 12:01 left in the game and the Otters trailing 59-58. His complaining afterwards resulted in a technical foul and gave the Otters potentially 4 free throws and the ball. Unfortunately, the Otters went only 1 for 2 on both the technical and the one and one, but had the lead at 60-59.
That final lead only lasted 20 seconds as the Penguins rebounded, raced down and responded with a dunk to grab the lead they would not relinquish.
That theme repeated over the next six minutes as the Otters connected on only four of eight free throws and hit no field goals until a little over 6 minutes remained. Dominican, buoyed by the re-awakened crowd, made their free throws and shots to get a nine point lead.
The Otters finished 20-31 (65%) on free throws after hitting seven of nine in the first half. At the end, the five seniors on the Otter team were put on the floor to finish the game, and the Cal-Pac era for CSUMB.
Dominican won the tournament title Saturday 79-60 over CSU Hayward.
Victorious Dominican coach Bill Tresler and Otter Coach Trumbo shared a few minutes afterwards. Coach Tresler said the Otters had the returning talent to compete in the NCAA next year, and he would be rooting for them, next year. Freshman Jay Demaestri, from nearby Mill Valley, made the most of his final NAIA game, leading the Otters with 18 points.