Williams, Martion and Shehata Lead the Way in Men's Basketball Win over Eastern Arizona

The Pima Community College men's basketball team (14-10, 9-7 in ACCAC) clawed out a win on Wednesday against Eastern Arizona College (17-7, 10-6) at the West Campus.

The Aztecs won a close game 81-78 against the Gila Monsters, a Division I team. Down 76-75 with 2:03 left in the game, sophomore Yusef Shehata (Amphitheater HS) scored under the basket and on the next play for Eastern Arizona, he stole the ball and found freshman Kwintin Williams down-court. Williams threw it down with a one-handed dunk to put Pima ahead 79-76. The Gila Monsters called a timeout with 1:17 left.

With under a minute left, the Aztecs led 79-78 and after a Shehata miss, the Gila Monsters could not convert on their trip down court and Williams collected the defensive rebound. Shehata was fouled and hit two free throws with 10.8 seconds left. Eastern Arizona attempted a three-pointer at the top of the key but Williams came down with another defensive rebound to end the game.

Pima's biggest lead of the second half was six points at 60-54. Eastern Arizona took one-point leads on a few occasions but the Aztecs would score to halt any momentum.

Williams scored a game-high 25 points and had eight rebounds while sophomore Justice Martion finished with 20 points and eight boards off the bench. He scored eight straight points to keep the Aztecs ahead in the second half. Shehata contributed with 19 points.

The Aztecs avenged their earlier loss to the Gila Monsters in Thatcher. They lost 101-80 in December.

The Aztecs will play three straight games on the road starting with Saturday's game at Cochise College in Douglas. The game will start at 7:30 p.m.

Kwintin Williams/Photo by Ben Carbajal