By Ashanti Velez, April 14, 2026
Cal Poly Pomona men’s basketball team honored three players, guards Malcom Bell and Demarreya Lewis-Cooper and forward Kevin Simeth, with California Collegiate Athletic Association postseason awards, recognizing their strong performances throughout the season.
“We have had our ups and downs, so just to have people reaching accomplishments is a big achievement for everybody,” Lewis-Cooper said. “I think it’s more than just like the person themselves. I think it involves the whole team. I just think through the ups and downs, it was very important to us.”
Bell earned All-CCAA First Team honors after helping lead the team in multiple statistical categories and finishing the season with a team-high 52 steals and 404 points for the Broncos. Bell captured one of his best performances of the season Feb. 7, scoring a career-high 23 points against Cal State Monterey Bay.
Bell also earned other honors, including CCAA Player of the Week for Dec. 15-21. He ranked second in the CCAA in December with 16.8 points per game. He also led the conference in field goal percentage at 59.3% and ranked 33rd in NCAA Division ll.
Lewis-Cooper received All-CCAA Honorable Mention recognition March 3, 2026, for averaging 11.7 points and 2.7 rebounds while also being a team lead. He contributed 107 assists this season, appeared in 27 games and averaged 31.8 minutes per game. He also totaled 316 points, 36 steals and performed his top game against Cal State San Bernardino Jan. 17, scoring a season high 21 points.
Lewis-Cooper earned several other honors, including All-CCAA Second Team March 4, 2025, CPP Athletic Male Newcomer of the Year in 2024-2025 and CPP Player of the Week April 29, 2025. His previous standout stats includedscoring a season-high 26 points against Stanislaus State, with a .344 three-pointer average and a .753 free throw percentage.
“I felt good seeing my teammates honored as all CCAA. It just recognizes the work that they put in, how much talent they got,” guard Zach Broadous said. “I was just proud to see them being recognized on that stage.”
Simeth also earned All-CCAA Honorable Mention after leading CPP with 202 rebounds and 27 blocks before the end of the regular season. He also earned other awards and honors including CCAA Elite 13 Award March 6, 2025, CSC Academic All-District March 25, 2025, CCAA Winter Academic Honor Roll July 8, 2025, NABC Honors Court July 17, 2025, and CCAA All- Academic July 30, 2025.
Simeth started in all 30 games this season and averaged 27 minutes per game. He grabbed a season high 18 rebounds against Monterey Bay Jan. 8 and then, just a few days later, broke the record again with 22 points against Cal State San Marcos Jan. 10.
“Being an international student coming here, playing basketball in the United States was not something I was dreaming of when I was a kid,” Simeth said. “When I started playing basketball at 15 years old, it was straight up for fun, and I was not thinking about where it would bring me. So having the opportunity to come to the U.S. and play college basketball is not something I was imagining back then. It’s just amazing.”
Simeth added his coaches always pushed him to improve, which motivated him to go even harder. He said they believed he could do something special with basketball and encouraged him to grow both as a person and as a player. With their support, it brought out the best in him, teaching him to stay resilient, not let failure stop him and focus on how to respond to adversity, Simeth said.
Bell, Lewis-Cooper, and Simeth were recognized in person after playing Monterey Bay during the CCAA Tournament Quarterfinal March 5. The three players received their awards and took photos capturing their honors achievements, and each of them also finished as game leaders during the tournament game.
It just happened so fast,” Simeth said. “I’ve already played all my games. I thought about it, but I didn’t have any regrets. It’s hard to say and to do it, but you just tried to play every single game like it was your last one because you never know when you can get hurt or an injury can happen. Obviously, I knew that those last few games, one of them was going to be the last one so I was really pushing on the court, train, not to serve any regrets when the final buzzer rang.”
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics
