(Danville, IL) The Pima Community College men’s basketball team (33-0) played its opening game of the NJCAA Division II National Tournament on Tuesday at the Mary Miller Center.p
The No. 1 seeded Aztecs set an early tone and went on to beat No. 16 SUNY Niagara 99-66 to advance to the quarterfinal round on Thursday.
Sophomore Gabe Oldham scored the first seven points of the game. Up 21-16, the Aztecs went on to score five of their next six field goals from beyond the arc as they went on a 14-0 run to take a 35-19 advantage.
Oldham secured his 15-point first half with back-to-back baskets to give Pima their biggest lead at 55-33. The Aztecs led 58-37 at the break.
The Thunderwolves (26-7) started out the second half on a 9-0 run to cut Pima’s lead to 60-46 but it was halted after a basket from sophomore Wes Ball (Marana HS). The teams traded buckets as Pima continued to stronghold a double-digit lead at 67-52. The Aztecs used an 18-1 run in the next four minutes to put the game out of reach. Sophomore Cohenj Gonzales’ (Mesquite HS) made it 85-53 with his three-pointer with 7:33 remaining.
The Aztecs outscored the Thunderwolves 41-29 in the second half.
Oldham finished with a double-double of 21 points and 14 rebounds to go with four assists as he went 9 for 14 from the field.
“All of us had a chip on our shoulder from last year. Especially in these big-time games, you can’t come out nervous or scared, you got to come out and set the tone,” Oldham said. “I was feeding off everyone else; Max, Cohen, Wes and Kota; they were giving me good passes and I was able to finish them. That’s what snowballed it off the git.”
Freshman Mason Hunt (Bradshaw Mountain HS) provided a spark off the bench as he posted 20 points to go with eight rebounds and two assists. He shot 7 for 14 from the field and 4 for 6 from three-point range.
“I was nervous for sure but when I’m nervous I think I play a little better,” Hunt said about his first game experience at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. “I think I kicked the nerves during warmups. Once I got my hands on a ball and saw some shots fall, I felt like I was good from there.”
Ball posted a double-double of his own with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He shot 6 for 8 from the floor and had two blocks.
Gonzales closed out the game with 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds while sophomore Max Majerle (Arcadia HS) added 12 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks.
The Pima defense stifled Niagara’s leading scorer Chioke Marshall as he finished with two points on 1 for 12 shooting. He averaged 18.2 points coming into the game.
“We hadn’t played in two weeks so to be able to get this first one under our belt and get this momentum into the rest of the tournament is huge,” Oldham said.
The Aztecs will play No. 8 seed Davidson-Davie Community College (NC) on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. (CT); 3:00 p.m.(Tucson time). The game will be shown on the NJCAA Network.
NIA 37 29 66
PCC 58 41 99
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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