Acedo drops 25 points as Aztecs men's basketball take control late to beat Glendale

The Pima Community College men's basketball team (7-3, 2-1 in ACCAC) maintained a lead for most of its game against Glendale Community College (5-5, 1-2) on Saturday and one final surge in the second half sealed the victory.

The Aztecs beat the Gauchos 108-96 as the Pima's defense held Glendale in check down the stretch.

The Gauchos cut Pima's lead to 95-90 with 6:09 left in the game but sophomores Jacob Anastasi (Cactus Shadows HS) and Deion James (Empire HS) put the team on their shoulders as they went on an 11-0 run in the next four minutes to make it 106-90. Anastasi scored seven points during that stretch. The Gauchos wouldn't score their next field goal until the 1:09 mark.

The Aztecs led by as much as 16 points early in the second half at 58-42 as Glendale tied the game on two occasions in the first half but couldn't overtake the lead.

Sophomore Emilio Acedo (Salpointe Catholic HS) scored 18 of his 25 points in the first half as the Aztecs produced six players in double figures. James scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half. Freshman Isaiah Murphy (Cienega HS) came off the bench and had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds while sophomore Damon Dubots also contributed with 16 points. Anastasi was 6 for 8 from the field for 14 points and also 10 rebounds and sophomore Zach Evans (Hamilton HS) had 11 points and eight assists. The Aztecs out-rebounded the Gauchos 51-31 for the game.

The Aztecs will be back at the West Campus on Wednesday against Eastern Arizona College. The game is set for 7:30 p.m.

GCC     42     54     96
PCC     56     52     108

Emilio Acedo/Photo by Stephanie Van Latum