(Chandler, AZ) The Pima Community College men’s basketball team is back on the mountaintop as it captured the Region I, Division II Championship on Saturday in Chandler.
The No. 2 seeded Aztecs defeated No. 1 Chandler-Gilbert Community College 64-61. It was Pima’s first region title since 2019 and the fourth crown under coach Brian Peabody.
“It feels unbelievable, it seems like it was a long time ago (2019) that we were there, and it seemed like things kept happening to us. We finally we got it done,” Peabody said. “We locked in defensively. Look at the scoreboard (61 points), you got to give our guys all the credit in the world for locking in defensively. Our game plan was let No. 30 (Andre Harris) get his points and run everybody else off. It’s exactly what happened. My guys were awesome.”
The Aztecs trailed 58-57 and sophomore Jaylen Alexander fouled out of the game at the 3:11 mark. The Coyotes knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 60-57. Sophomore Dillan Baker (Salpointe Catholic HS) drove to the basket and scored, cutting it to a one-point deficit. The Coyotes called timeout with 1:34 left. The Aztecs reclaimed the lead for good when freshman Gabe Oldham collected a steal and scored on a layup to put the Aztecs up for good at 61-60.
Baker missed a jumper but came right back to make a defensive play that forced a Chandler-Gilbert turnover with 28.8 seconds remaining. Freshman Cohenj Gonzales (Mesquite HS) was fouled and hit both foul shots to make it 63-60 with 20.7 seconds left.
The Coyotes got to the line and converted on 1 of 2 free throws, but freshman Wes Ball (Marana HS) pulled down the defensive board and was fouled. He missed his attempt, but Baker was right for the offensive rebound and was fouled with 4.1 seconds left. Baker missed his second free throw and Chandler-Gilbert’s Justin Fisher came up with the defensive rebound. He rushed to the other side of the court and missed a three-pointer as time expired.
Oldham talked about what he and Ball had to do when Alexander fouled out in the final three minutes.
“That’s a huge loss for us. Jaylen is a bucket-getter for sure, always good for a layup but when he fouled out, with me and Wes, he (Wes) is going to shut down Andre (Harris), and then me and Wes were going to come down and get every offensive board we can and give our team the best chance we can to get a bucket.”
The Aztecs trailed by as much as 10 points on two occasions in the first half. Down 22-12, they went on a 20-4 run to take a 32-26 lead with 4:51 left in the half. The Coyotes countered with a 10-3 run to end the half as Pima trailed 36-35.
Neither team held a lead larger than five points in the second half. The Aztecs outscored Chandler-Gilbert 29-25 in the second half.
Gonzales led the way with 20 points as he went 4 for 12 from the field and was a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line. He also had three assists. Ball finished the game with 11 points on 5 for 6 shooting, along with nine rebounds.
“Wes Ball came up huge tonight. He wasn’t afraid, he came in and played really strong minutes for us,” Peabody said. “Cohenj and Dillan didn’t have a great shooting game, I was afraid it would effect their free throw percentage, but they got up there and knocked them down calmly and put the game away.”
Baker finished with seven points on 2 for 13 shooting to go with five rebounds.
Alexander was named the game’s Most Valuable Player as he finished with 10 points on 3 for 6 shooting to go with nine rebounds and five blocks.
“It feels amazing. I can’t even describe it,” Alexander said. “The last eight months of the season has been a struggle. It took perseverance and it feels like it paid off finally. The guys were working well together and always communicating. The 50/50 balls, the rebounds to close the game out, were really big.”
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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