Winners of 10 of its last 11 games, the 22nd-ranked College of San Mateo men’s basketball team is set to open conference play after winning a pair of non-league games earlier this week.
CSM (12-2) opens Coast North Conference play, the toughest in Northern California, next week when the Bulldogs go on the road to Fremont to take on Ohlone at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The Bulldogs finished non-conference play this week with a pair of wins, hosting the Chick-fil-A Winter Classic at College Heights gymnasium. CSM defeated College of the Siskiyous 79-52 Tuesday and Lassen College 70-42 on New Year’s Eve — draining 23 3-pointers over the two games, including 13 in the win over Lassen to celebrate the upcoming New Year.
San Mateo coach Mike Marcial got a good look at upcoming league foe Ohlone, which opened the tourney on both days against the same foes. The Renegades (8-6) took care of Lassen, 72-53, and Siskiyous, 95-71.
“We’re off to our best start,” said Marcial, who is in his eighth year at the CSM helm, following a revival of the program after a 36-year absence. “We have a good defense and we can shoot the ball.”
San Mateo had an impressive 24-point run in Wednesday’s win over Lassen. Starting slowly, the Bulldogs saw the visitors knot the score at 20 just over three minutes before the halftime break. CSM wing, Wilson Tran, broke the deadlock with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and guard Jeremy Pierro netted a couple more 3s. A driving layup by DeMarus Collins made it 31-20 just before the break.
CSM continued the scoring outburst to start the second half, with Keshawn Johnson tallying the next seven points. It was 44-20 before Lassen ended the more than eight-minute scoring drought with a basket at the 15:17 mark.
Pierro, a 6-5 sophomore out of Clovis East High near Fresno, finished with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Johnson had 11 points, all in the second half.
CSM has three of the top-four 3-point basket producers in the Coast North. Pierro ranks second with 24, followed by Ben Liang with 22 and Elijah Newsome with 21. De Marcus Collins is 10th with 18.
Skyline’s Zidane Auzarang, a 2025 San Mateo graduate, is the overall pacesetter with 36.
Pierro was also the top scorer in the Siskiyous game, with 20 points, including another four baskets from long range. He leads the Bulldogs in season scoring with a 15.9 average.
CSM had an eight-game winning streak interrupted by No. 9 West Valley College just before Christmas. The Bulldogs’ only other loss was in early November, to No. 5 Santa Rosa.
Although the Bulldogs are off to a great start to the 2025-26 season, they have only the third-best record as they enter conference play. Top-ranked City College of San Francisco (13-1) and No. 7 Las Positas (13-0), the only unbeaten team in Northern California, are the top contenders. And the Coast South is led by West Valley (10-3), the only team to defeat CCSF.
West Valley opened the eight-team San Joaquin Delta tourney by giving defending state champion San Francisco its only season setback, later advancing to the finals—where they topped CSM to end the Bulldogs’ streak.
Both Cañada and Skyline are wrapping up the non-conference portion of their schedules, as well. Cañada (6-7) hosted Cabrillo (10-5) Friday, while Skyline (8-5) welcomes Reedley (8-5) Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Discover India with Us! Read moreIndia Community Travel: Virtual Information Session
Prayer, grounded in divine Love and spiritual law, offers a reliable foundation for healing,… Read moreInspirational Talk on Effective Prayer: Finding healing and wholeness in divine Love
What the Constitution Means to Me Read moreWhat The Constitution Means To Me
Navigating Senior Care, Estate Planning, & Funeral Planning Read morePeace of Mind with a Piece of Cake
Dave Cohen said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.