FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fred Baer
(650) 483-3733
baerf@smccd.edu

The 37-Year-Old Loss Streak has Ended!!!

HAYWARD – Perhaps the oldest losing skein in college basketball has ended. College of San Mateo opened the 53rd annual Gladiator Classic Basketball Tournament at Chabot College Thursday with a 94-89 win over College of Alameda for the first victory of the reinstituted Bulldogs program, which had not won a game in 37 years. San Mateo had ended the 1982-83 season with an 18-game losing streak before dropping the program.

CSM (1-3) had shown promise against three of the state’s top teams in last weekend’s season-opening City College of San Francisco tournament but still started 0-3 to lengthen that streak to 21 games.

That all ended on Tuesday under new coach Mike Marcial. Bobby Arenas led six San Mateo freshmen in double figures with 23 points, including a pair of three pointers. Jackie Luong had 22 points, with a quartet of three’s. Reynaldo Philllips added 16 points (a trio of 3’s). Oscar Pedraza,  Desai Lopez, and Daniel Benjamin each scored 11 points.

After not capitalizing last weekend on free throw opportunities, the Bulldogs took care of business at the charity line this time, sinking 27 free throws (out of 33 attempts) while Alameda only netted three (of nine).

San Mateo played without 6-8 center Irnes Sarvan, still sidelined with an injury last weekend.

Kamerson Malbrough of Alameda (0-1) was the game’s top scorer with 34 points, including eight 3-pointers.

CSM’s previous win came on Dec. 21, 1982 over Diablo Valley College.

–The Bulldogs will play in the tourney semifinals at 5 p.m. on Friday against Porterville, a 92-73 winner over Feather River — and which features a 7-2 center. So, quickly, CSM is now looking for its first basketball tournament title in more than four decades.