The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
JD Carson scored 13 points, including the eventual winning points on a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:55 left in the game, as College of San Mateo closed out regular season Coast North men’s basketball play with a 66-61 victory at Cañada College in Redwood City Friday night.
CSM scored the first eight points of the game as the host Colts did not score for the first six minutes. Carson had a pair of 3s to extend San Mateo’s 28-21 halftime lead to 34-21 before Cañada began to close the gap with eight 3s down the stretch.
Ray Goda connected on the last two of his four triples to close Cañada’s deficit to 53-52 with 4:53 left. San Mateo got a put back by Kiahn Nice, who had a game high 14 points, and a jumper by Carson to extend the advantage to five points as the Bulldogs held on to the end.
CSM finished play in the state’s toughest conference with a 3-11 record — but was 13-15 overall for a No. 24 Northern California winning percentage index. San Mateo coach Mike Marcial expressed confidence the Bulldogs could gain one of the 24 NorCal playoff seeds at Sunday’s coaches meeting.
Cañada (0-14, 5-23) may be the only Coast North team to miss the playoffs and was led by sophomore Dahareeha Allen with 13 points.
Defending state champion City College of San Francisco (with the top RPI) and Chabot entered the final evening tied for first place in the Coast North at 12-1.
