File photo – College of the Redwoods head coach Ryan Bisio

The College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team returned to action at the San Mateo tournament on Monday and defeated the host school 74-66.

In their first game since Christmas, the Corsairs came out ready to go and opened up a comfortable 13-point lead going into halftime.

They would stretch the advantage to as many as 21 points early in the second half, but the San Mateo players would battle back and cut the deficit to as few as two with under two minutes to go.

However, the Corsairs held on down the stretch to record a milestone victory for their coaches.

The win was the 100th for head coach Ryan Bisio and associate head coach Justin Claus, who took over the program in the spring of 2019.

In that time they have pieced together an impressive record of 100-33.

Bisio admitted afterwards that he was expecting a battle.

“We knew there would be some serious resistance at some point coming from the home team, and they brought it to us,” he said. “Credit to our entire team for not panicking and making mature plays down the stretch.”

It was an entertaining showdown.

“This was a very cool basketball game to be a part off,” Bisio added. “Guys competing and making big plays and spurring some crazy runs.”

Ty Dahlin led a balanced team performance with 17 points for CR, while teammate Mason Mottashed added 15 points.

Marcos Rosales, Nate Sweet and Brandon Lucas each chipped in 13 points for CR.

With the win, the Corsairs improved to 12-5.

The Corsairs also continued to impress from downtown and finished with 12 3-pointers.

Next up, the CR men will continue tournament play when they face off against Ohlone at noon on Tuesday.

Ohlone will be another big challenge for the Corsairs and comes into the game with a record of 12-1.