(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College men’s basketball team (14-2, 6-2 in ACCAC) had its six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday in a battle between two NJCAA Division II ranked teams.
The No. 12 ranked Aztecs fell to the No. 17 Coyotes 80-71 suffering their first loss of the season on the Aztec Gym home floor.
The Aztecs took a 40-36 lead at halftime, but the Coyotes went on a 13-5 run to take a 49-45 advantage. Freshman Moses Demalek (Paradise Valley HS) scored on a pair of possessions after grabbing offensive rebounds to tie the game at 50-50 with 13:24 left. The Aztecs trailed 54-52 and the Coyotes went on a 16-4 run to put Pima in their biggest deficit of the game at 70-56. Freshman Kota Benson (Mesa HS) hit a three-pointer and Pima called timeout with 5:57 left.
The Aztecs began to chip away as sophomore Toate Sika (Rincon HS) hit a pair of free throws and freshman Cohenj Gonzales (Mesquite HS) hit a three-pointer to cut it to 72-66 with 3:17 left. That’s as close as the Aztecs would get as the Coyotes countered with a three-pointer and would take one more double digit lead down the stretch.
Sophomore Dillan Baker (Salpointe Catholic HS) scored 20 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. He struggled from the floor in the second half going 1 for 7 and 0 for 4 from three-point range.
Gonzales posted 13 points with three steals and two rebounds while Benson had 12 points and three steals off the bench.
Demalek finished the game with seven points and 10 rebounds (six offensive). He also had three assists and one steal.
The Aztecs will hit the road on Saturday when they play at Arizona Western College in Yuma. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m.
CGCC 36 44 80
PCC 40 31 71
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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