(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College men’s basketball team (11-6, 5-4 in ACCAC) played a tale of two halves on Saturday in its game against Chandler-Gilbert Community College (6-11, 0-9).
The Aztecs trailed at halftime but came back to beat the Coyotes 80-67 snapping a two-game skid.
The Aztecs went into the break trailing 27-26 but started the second half on a 10-4 run to take a 36-31 lead. The teams went back and forth exchanging the lead in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
After a three-pointer cut Pima’s lead to 56-54, the Aztecs went on an 8-0 run that was capped off by freshman Sammy Legleu’s (Nogales HS) three-pointer to make it 64-54 with 6:20 left in the game.
The Coyotes cut it to 68-62 but sophomore Cole Gerken’s (Ironwood Ridge HS) three-pointer halted the run to make it 71-62.
The Aztecs went 9 for 31 (29 percent) from the floor in the first half but responded by going 18 for 32 (56 percent) in the second half. The Aztecs also went 11 for 16 in free throws after shooting just two foul shots in the first half. The teams traded the lead 17 times.
Freshman Jake Lieppert (Saguaro HS) finished with a game-high 28 points after going 9 for 16 from the field and 5 for 11 from long range. He also had seven rebounds.
Sophomore Rashad Smith (Hamilton HS) scored all 22 of his points in the second half going 7 for 10 from the floor. He had no points and was 0 for 2 in the first half.
Gerken posted 10 points while sophomore Jordan Robinson (Tucson HS) had nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Aztecs will be back at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium on Wednesday when they host Phoenix College at 7:30 p.m.
CGCC 27 40 67
PCC 26 54 80
Press Release courtesy of Pima Athletics
