The surging Chabot men's basketball team will open Coast-North play with a pair of challenging road games this week.

The Gladiators, who have won five of their past six games, will face Skyline (8-6) in San Bruno on Wednesday, Jan. 5 and College of San Mateo (11-3) on Friday, Jan. 7. Both games will start at 7 p.m.

Chabot's only loss in December came against unbeaten State No. 2 Columbia, 84-71, on the road.

On Dec. 28, Chabot opened the Allan Hancock Holiday Classic with a thrilling win in overtime over Cuesta, 71-67, but the scheduled Dec. 30 Allan Hancock tourney game was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

Christian Pitcher came off the bench and produced a double-double against Cuesta with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Chabot's ace relief Pitcher also came in to score a team-high 18 in an 88-66 win over De Anza on Dec. 14.

Chabot, which takes pride in its defense under head coach Keenan McMiller, is ranked No. 13 in the state in team defense.

The offense is impeccably balanced with seven players averaging between nine and 13 points a game. Freshman forward/center David Ogunleye leads the way at 12.5 ppg and 7.7 rebounds a game. Sophomore guard Isaiah Veal is No. 2 on the team at 11.8 ppg.

Sophomore forward Skylar Robinson is averaging 10.4 points and 7.6 rebounds. Pitcher is at 10.6 ppg and 5.6 rebounds. Freshman guard Diggy Winbush has scored 10.1 a game.