Aztecs men's basketball fall in back and forth battle with Phoenix College

The Pima Community College men's basketball team (11-5, 5-3 in ACCAC) played a tightly contested game against Phoenix College (13-3, 6-2 in ACCAC) on Wednesday at the West Campus.

The No. 19 ranked Aztecs fell to the No. 8 Bears 96-89 in a game that saw five ties and 11 lead changes.

The Aztecs took an 84-83 lead after sophomore Zach Evans (Hamilton HS) hit a three-pointer with 4:19 left in the game. The Bears hit back-to-back three-point shots and turned it into a 10-0 run to put them ahead 93-84 with 1:24 left in the game. The Aztecs cut the lead to six points on two occasions but couldn't get any closer.

Up 53-51 the Aztecs went on a 12-4 run to take their first double digit lead at 65-55 with 12:43 left. Later with the Aztecs up 73-67, the Bears hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie it at 73-73 with 7:31 left. The Aztecs went up by five points with sophomore Deion James' (Empire HS) three-point play and sophomore Jacob Anastasi's basket but the Bears responded with two 3-pointers again to retake the lead at 79-78.

Pima's biggest lead in the first half was five points at 41-36 but the Bears ended it with a 9-0 run. The Aztecs trailed 45-41 at the break.

James produced his eighth double-double of the season and his sixth in eight ACCAC conference games. He finished with 26 points, 16 rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore Emilio Acedo (Salpointe Catholic HS) had 23 points while Evans contributed with 20 points as he went 4 for 8 from three-point range. He also had six assists and two steals. Anastasi finished with 12 points and three assists.

The Aztecs will be back on the road on Saturday at Central Arizona College. The game starts at 4:00 p.m.

PC     45     41     96
PCC  41     48     89