CSM Men's Basketball Ends 2025 Winning 10 of 11 as it Enters Conference Play
The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
Winners of 10 of its last 11 games, the state No. 22 ranked College of San Mateo men's basketball team is set to open play in the toughest community college league, the Coast North, on Wednesday evening (Jan. 7) at Ohlone College in Fremont. Tip is at 6 p.m.
The Bulldogs (12-2) finished non-league 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, on Tuesday, and Lassen College, 70-42, on New Year's Eve – putting up 13 3-pointers in the latter contest (and 23 in the classic) 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 scoring 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 3's. A driving lay-up 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 8-minute scoring drought with a basket at the 15:17 mark.
Pierro, a 6-5 sophomore out of Clovis East High, 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 tenth with 18. Skyline College freshman Zidane Auzarang (from San Mateo High) 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 its 8-game winning streak interrupted by state No. 9 West Valley College just before Christmas. The Bulldogs' only other loss was in early November, to No. 5 ranked Santa Rosa JC.
Although the Bulldogs are off to a great start in the 2025-26 season, they are only "No. 3" in W-L records in the state's toughest conference--the Coast North. State top-ranked City College of San Francisco (13-1) and No. 7 Las Positas (13-0), the only unbeaten team in Northern California, are top contenders. And the Coast South is led by West Valley (10-3), the only team to defeat CCSF (splitting two meetings).
West Valley opened the 8-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' skein.
There are 100 men's community college basketball teams in California, playing in 13 leagues – comprising by far the largest state organization in the USA.