(Danville, IL) The Pima Community College men’s basketball team closed out the 2018-19 season on Saturday at the NJCAA Division II Tournament.
The No. 3 seeded Aztecs defeated No. 12 Ancilla College 104-101 to claim seventh placefor the tournament. After dropping the first game to Cecil College, the Aztecs won three straight.
The Chargers (24-11) inbounded the ball with 2.4 seconds left but were forced to shoot a long three-pointer as time expired.
Up 86-83 with 5:43 left, the Aztecs went on a 9-2 run in the next two minutes to take a 95-85 lead with 3:50 left. They were outscored 16-9 the rest of the game. Pima went 5 for 8 from the free throw line in the final minute.
The Aztecs took their biggest lead of the game by going on a 12-4 run earlier in the half to take a 68-56 lead but the Chargers brought it back down to a single digit lead after scoring four straight points.
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In the first half, the Chargers used a 10-2 run to put the Aztecs down 34-28 but the Aztecs countered with a 15-5 run to grab hold of a 43-39 advantage at the break.
Sophomore Kennedy Koehler was unstoppable as he finished with his 22nd double-double of the season as he scored 35 points with 21 rebounds and seven assists. He was named to the NJCAA Division II All-Tournament team.
“I feel like I’ve always been capable of that,” Koehler said on gaining double-doubles in points and rebounds. “Coach (Brian Peabody) said ‘if you average a double-double, we will win a lot of games and it will earn you a lot of success in your future.’ We’ve been talking about Danville all year. It was a good experience. We didn’t win the first game but we bounced back the last three games, regained our focus and played like we had all season.”
Koehler averaged 26 points and 14 rebounds during the tournament.
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Sophomore Abram Carrasco scored 26 points with seven assists and six rebounds. He broke the Pima men’s basketball career scoring record on Mar. 6 and finished his career with 1,310 points.
Freshman Rashad Smith (Hamilton HS) scored 20 points on 8 for 15 shooting while sophomore Robert Wilson (Salpointe Catholic HS) had nine points and 12 rebounds.
The Aztecs finished the season with an overall record of 29-7 and claimed their third straight NJCAA Region I, Division II title. The Aztecs had four sophomores on this year’s squad.
Courtesy of Pima Athletes
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