Mahoney to play at San Jose State

What they knew was Mahoney had a passion for the game of basketball. Mahoney has fed that passion since then and it led him to sign with San Jose State University to continue his basketball career next season.

Mahoney will attend SJSU as a recruited walk-on, with a chance to earn a scholarship down the road. He knows it’s completely up to him to get it.

“It depends on how hard I work,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney said Gonzaga University in Washington state and Boise State University in Idaho were also interested but, after he took a trip to San Jose State, he decided the Spartans were for him.

“I could see my relationship with the (SJSU) coaches being a really good one,” Mahoney said. “Also, all the [players] at San Jose State were extremely accepting.”

Mahoney was a key cog for a Serra team not many people expected to do much this season, after seeing four of five starters from the 2012-13 season either graduate or transfer. That put a chip on the shoulders of the Padres players and they went out to prove the detractors wrong. They finished second in the West Catholic Athletic League, advanced to the Central Coast Section Open Division finals and to the semifinals of the Northern California tournament.

Mahoney averaged 18 points this past season and became a leader for the Padres.

“I think (SJSU) will be a really great opportunity for him,” said Serra coach Chuck Rapp. “He had an outstanding season for us, one of the best offensive basketball seasons for a guard in Serra history.”

At 6-feet tall, Mahoney won’t wow anybody with his stature. But he plays the game much bigger. A lethal 3-point shooter, Mahoney isn’t afraid to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim. He is also a strong rebounder for a point guard and does a good job of trying to get his teammates involved in the offense.

Mahoney is also a rare four-year varsity player, playing his first two seasons at Hillsdale before transferring to Serra. He came off the bench for the first time in his career as a junior at Serra before moving into the starting lineup this season.

Mahoney had a couple of Division II offers on the table, but he was confident he had the talent to play at the Division I level. It took a while before the bigger schools started calling, however.

“Mainly this year, toward CCS and playoffs. That’s when [the recruiting] started to pick up,” Mahoney said.

San Jose State entered a new conference with a new coach this past season and had their difficulties. Dave Wojcik took over the Spartans program this year and guided them to a 1-17 record in their first season in the Mountain West Conference and 7-24 overall.

Mahoney is hoping he can help turn the program around and he knows anything he gets playing next season will all be him.

“I was talking to coach Wojcik and he said, ‘(Playing time) is pretty much up to you. I’m going to treat you like any other scholarship player,’” Mahoney said. “Which is the way it should be.”