(Danville, IL) The Pima Community College men’s basketball team (33-1) played its NJCAA Division II National Tournament quarterfinal matchup on Thursday against Iowa Central Community College (28-6) at the Mary Miller Center in Danville, IL.
The No. 4 seeded Aztecs suffered their first defeat of the 2025-26 season falling to the No. 5 Tritons 78-77 ending their 33-game winning streak, the second longest in program history. Last season, the Aztecs won 34 straight games.
The Aztecs will play in the fifth-place consolation bracket semifinal on Friday at 1:00 p.m. (CDT); 11:00 a.m.Tucson time.
Sophomore Brock Mendoza scored to match Pima’s biggest lead at 76-68 with 3:42 left in the game. The Tritons went on a 7-0 run to put the score at 76-75.
Sophomore Isaac Johnson hit a free throw to make it 77-75 with 1:48 on the clock. Iowa Central hit a foul shot on their next trip to make it a one-point game once again. Freshman Rowan McKenzie (Boulder Creek HS) missed a three-pointer and CJ Michael collected the defensive rebound. Iowa Central’s Tashun Pender scored to give them the lead with 20 seconds left.
Sophomore Mason Hunt (Bradshaw Mountain HS) turned the ball over, and Iowa’s Jordan Cain collected the steal and was fouled. He missed the free throw and Mendoza collected the board as timeout was called with 1.3 seconds left.
Mendoza heaved the ball past halfcourt to Hunt and his shot was blocked as time expired.
The game featured 13 ties and 13 lead changes. Iowa Central went on an 11-0 run early in the first half to take a 16-11 lead as the Aztecs went scoreless for four minutes until Hunt’s basket made it 16-13 with 12:10 left in the half. The Aztecs retook the lead at 31-30 after freshman Isaiah Hill’s (Premier Prep Academy) score with 4:31remaining. They maintained a slim lead as freshman Gerron Graham (Premier Prep Academy) and Johnson scored the final four points of the half to give Pima their biggest lead at 43-35.
The game was tied at 61-61 with 7:59 left as the Aztecs went on a 13-5 run to match their biggest lead at 74-66 with 4:25 remaining.
Hill scored a team-high 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting and 5-for-7 from three-point range. He also had four rebounds, two steals and one block.
Hunt closed it out with 21 points as he was 5-for-18 from the field and 10-for-10 from the free throw line. He also added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Mendoza was 6-for-9 from the field with 15 points. He completed the double-double with 12 rebounds and also had six blocks.
Johnson also scored double figures with 10 points to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Aztecs will play No. 2 seed Palm Beach State College (FL) in the consolation semifinals on Friday at 1:00 p.m. (CDT); 11:00 a.m. (MST).
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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