Johnson's rebound and Dean's free throws seal win as Aztecs men's basketball opens 2020-21 season

The Pima Community College men's basketball team (1-0, 1-0 in ACCAC) played its first competitive game since March 6, 2020.

• The Aztecs defeated Eastern Arizona College 97-93 at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium.
• Pima led 95-93 coming out of a timeout with 19.8 seconds left and the Gila Monsters had a chance to tie it up but freshman Jalen Johnson (Glendale HS) came down with the defensive rebound and freshman Marcel Dean (Cholla HS) was fouled with 3 seconds remaining. He went on to make both foul shots to put the game out of reach.
• The Aztecs led 61-46 at halftime but Eastern Arizona chipped away at Pima's lead in the second half and ended up outscoring the Aztecs 47-36 for the half.
• Sophomore Joe Heath (Mohave HS) led the way with 20 points as he hit six 3-pointers. Dean scored 18 points as he drained four 3-pointers. He was 4 for 4 in free throws in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Daniel Moody (Walden Grove HS) hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.
• Johnson scored all 10 of his points in the second half. Freshmen Chris Lee and Pierce Sterling also each finished with 10 points.

The Aztecs will host a non-conference game on Friday against Community Christian College at 4:00 p.m.

EAC   46   47   93
PCC   61   36   97