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

Within a point in final minute, CSM nearly wins 1st Men’s Basketball tourney title

HAYWARD – The least likely team to appear in the finals of the 53rd Annual Gladiator Basketball Tournament at Chabot College trailed the state No. 24 ranked host team by just a single point with 26 seconds left in the title game Saturday night.

College of San Mateo’s reinstituted men’s basketball program established several firsts just to reach the tourney finals. They won their first game, 94-89, over College of Alameda in the tourney opener. The Bulldogs took care of Porterville College, 91-88, in overtime in the semifinals – the first back-to-back wins for the program since the disbanded former program accomplished that in December of 1978. Could the first tournament title in a half century also be in the offing?

Chabot managed to net four free throws at the end for an 81-76 tourney championship victory.

Coach Mike Marcial has his young team determined to forget the 70’s history and resume the heritage the college, founded in 1922, had enjoyed during its first half century. That included being a contender under the late coach Jack Avina when Chabot first hosted its annual tournament. CSM Sports Hall of Fame member Avina, who died last year, became head coach at University of Portland directly following his successful tenure at CSM in the 1960’s.

San Mateo’s current team of players from its Bay Area recruiting area battled to the wire against a Chabot team featuring a quartet of out-of-state stars.

CSM fell just a point short of making up a 9-point deficit, 77-68, over the final 1:20. The Bulldogs shutout Chabot from the field the rest of the way, forcing turnovers and ripping off eight straight points. A pair of free throws by all tournament guard Jackie Luong made it 77-76 with 26 seconds left.

San Mateo had committed only six second half fouls going into the final minute. So Marcial’s strategy of putting the Gladiators at the line for 1-and-1 opportunities nearly paid off. They missed on four of eight chances. But San Mateo could not connect on its final two shots – a fast break lay-in attempt to tie it (at 78) with 11 seconds left —  and, following a single made Chabot free throw, a corner 3-point attempt to tie it by Oscar Pedraza with two seconds left.

Chabot got the final two points on free throws with 0.7 on the clock. So the final score was not indicative of how close the game really was. That reversed an earlier one-sided appearance.

San Mateo was down by 22 points, 70-48, with 8 minutes remaining. Forward Desai Lopez led the Bulldogs on a 14-point run to close to 70-62 with 3:54 left, setting up the final run. Chabot managed only three field goals over the last eight minutes.

2 ALL-TOURNEY PLAYERS: Freshman guard Bobby Arenas (out of Riordan High) joined George Washington (San Francisco) grad Luong on the all-tournament team. Luong scored all nine of his points in the finale during the second half run. Lopez (St. Francis) led CSM scorers in the final game with 20 points.

The title game marked the debut of Serra High grad Denzel McCollum, who scored nine points for the short-handed Bulldogs. “He did a great job on defense,” said Marcial. CSM was still missing 6-8 center Irnes Sarvan (out of Santa Clasra High), injured the previous week at the CCSF tournament.

NEXT: San Mateo (2-4) plays at Monterey Peninsula (3-2) Friday at 5 p.m. before hosting its first home game since 1983 on Nov. 23 against West Hills College at 1 p.m. That will be the lone home appearance prior to league play in January.