Information provided by the Pima College media relations department:
The Pima College men’s basketball team (22-6, 14-6 in ACCAC) took control in the second half on Wednesday against Chandler-Gilbert Community College (20-8, 12-8) in a crucial ACCAC conference match-up.
Brian Peabody achieved his 200th win as Pima’s head coach over 11 years.
The No. 17-ranked Aztecs defeated the Coyotes 97-62 at the West Campus Aztec Gym as Pima has won four of their last five games. Pima held a one-game lead over the Coyotes for the No. 2 seed for the NJCAA Region I, Division II Tournament coming into Wednesday’s contest.
The Coyotes scored the first points of the second half to make it 41-30 but the Aztecs countered with the three-ball as they went on a 22-10 run to make it 63-40. The Aztecs took their biggest lead of the game at 91-48 with 3:21 left and outscored the Coyotes 56-34 in the second half.
The Aztecs established themselves in the first half going on a 19-3 run to take a 35-16 lead at the 3:47 mark but the Coyotes came back with a 12-2 run of their own to bring it back to single digits. The Aztecs called timeout with the score at 37-28 with 1:44 left. Sophomore Cesar Saenz (Sabino grad) halted Chandler-Gilbert’s momentum with two straight baskets. The Aztecs led 41-28 at the break.
Saenz finished with a game-high 20 points to go along with nine rebounds and three assists.
Freshman Jaylen Alexander finished with 17 points after going 5 for 7 from the field and had eight rebounds.
Sophomore Traivar Jackson shot 6 for 9 from the field and finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Freshman Dillan Baker (Salpointe Catholic) added 15 points after he shot 6 for 10 from the floor. Freshman Mike Pope was 3 for 7 from three-point range (3 for 4 in the second half) and posted nine points.
The Aztecs will close out their regular-season home schedule on Saturday when they play Central Arizona College at 2:00 p.m.
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