Pima Community College sports

Pima Notebook: Aztec men top nation in several categories, most important — win total



Pima coach Brian Peabody is one win shy of 700 wins in his head coaching career (Javier Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

The core of Pima’s tight-knit men’s basketball team is exuding so much enthusiasm and vibrancy that the energy is reaching heights of being the best in the nation in many statistical categories.

Using a Bill Walton vernacular, the third-ranked Aztecs are so much like the sun in that regard, exuding radiant heat at 23-0 overall, that Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec sun god, would be proud.

“It’s awesome being on a team like this,” sophomore point guard Cohenj Gonzales said after Pima’s 111-76 rout Wednesday of Mesa at the Aztec West Gym. “I feel like we’re very unselfish. When we move the ball, the flow gets going and we’re able to put up the numbers that we put up.

“It’s a blessing, to be honest with you.”

After the win over Mesa, that improved Pima to 11-0 in the ACCAC, the Aztecs emerged topping all NJCAA Division II programs in …

— Wins (the next highest to Pima’s 23 is Des Moines Area Community College, which is 22-2). The Aztecs’ start is the best in program history.

— Field-goal percentage (54.8 percent)

— Scoring (106.4 points per game)

— Assists (25.2 a game)

— Opponent assists per game (6.8 a game)

— Rebounding margin (27.5 a game)

— Opponent rebounds per game (19.5 a game)

The Aztecs are third in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (39.4), fourth in rebounding (47.0 a game), ninth in steals (11.9), 17th in blocks (4.7) and 18th in scoring defense (69.7).

Brian Peabody’s team is one of only two unbeaten teams in the nation. Top-ranked North Central Missouri College is 21-0.

Phenomenal: Pima’s 111 points Wednesday marks the 13th time the Aztecs have eclipsed 100 points this season. A program reaches that total usually over a five-year span, if that.

What makes Pima’s offensive execution deadly is its stifling defense, the best Peabody and his staff have produced in his 13 years leading the program. The discrepancy in assists between Pima and its opponents is mind-boggling.

“We guard and I think that was very evident tonight when he held them to 26 at halftime,” Peabody said. “They (Mesa) are a college basketball team. They have players. They’re athletic. We were dialed and locked in.

“We can control that end of the floor (on defense). I know that it helps us score that many points in the end.”

PEABODY ONE WIN FROM 700 CAREER VICTORIES

BRIAN PEABODY COACHING CAREER

Record compiled by Pima College men's basketball coach Brian Peabody, who is in his 33rd year of coaching.
Source: AllSportsTucson.com
SchoolYearsRecord
Green Fields HS1990-1992 55-11
St. Gregory HS1992-1993 26-3
Salpointe HS1993-2003 241-57
Pima CC2003-2004 7-23
Ironwood Ridge HS2007-2013 122-52
Pima CC2013-2025 249-109
Pima (combined)13 years256-132
Overall32 years700-255

It’s a long time since Peabody’s first win as a head coach in the 1990-91 season coaching at 1A school Green Fields (which has not had a basketball program for many years).

Through his tenure there and at St. Gregory (now the Gregory School), Salpointe, Ironwood Ridge and at Pima, Peabody has amassed a 699-255 record heading into Wednesday’s game at Scottsdale (8-12, 5-5).

The 700-win milestone is enhanced by his affiliation with the late, great Dick McConnell, who finished at 776-320 in his 40 years of coaching (39 at Sahuaro).

Peabody was a starting guard for McConnell at Sahuaro as a senior with the 1980-81 team, one of the best in Tucson history. The Cougars finished 25-2 after losing in the state semifinals. A year later, with David Haskin at the post and future NFL quarterback Rodney Peete a productive forward, Sahuaro finished 28-1 and won McConnell’s second state title at the school. The championship was at the state’s highest level, a feat no other Southern Arizona school has accomplished since.

Peabody was emotional, often pausing while gathering his thoughts, commenting about McConnell when I phoned him following McConnell’s death because of failing health at 89 years old in April 2019.

“He was the most influential person in my life,” said Peabody, his voice trailing off, at the time. “I didn’t have a father growing up. … He was mine.”

Peabody’s coaching style is mostly that of being a teacher and tactician, much like McConnell. The regimens and demands he places on his players are the same he’s practiced since his days at the high school level.

“The things he does never differs,” longtime assistant Matt Minder said. “It’s the same thing over and over again, and that’s why he’s so good.”

After the halftime buzzer sounded, with Pima well ahead of Mesa at 58-26, Peabody pulled aside Mason Hunt after it appeared Hunt drifted away from where he was supposed to be on the wing toward the top of the key when Kota Benson drove the lane in the waning seconds.

Benson found an open Brigg Wolfe on the other wing for a last-second 3-pointer.

Rather than be fine with Wolfe’s shot and walk off the floor, Peabody took a few moments to make it a teaching opportunity with Hunt.

“Playing for Coach Peabody is good; he’s tough,” said Hunt, who had 12 of his 15 points in the first half. “You know where he’s coming from. It’s all from he wants to motivate you and he wants to win the most. He’s a competitive dude and it’s fun.”

PEABODY RELISHING THE OPPORTUNITY AT 700 WINS

Some coaches allow the thought of a milestone of 700 career wins to be like an albatross, but Peabody said dealing with the anticipation of reaching that mark is “easy.”

“I don’t think about it,” he said. “I’m more worried about getting to the national tournament and getting a real good seed. We got hosed last year and played the No. 1 team in the country in the first game.

“That’s what I keep reminding these guys every single game — if you’re top five in the country, you’re going to get a real good seed. That’s hopefully motivating these guys.”

His players also know he is on the brink of winning 700 games.

A large Pima contingent is expected at Scottsdale with five players on the roster from the Phoenix area, including Arcadia graduate Max Majerle (son of Phoenix Suns legend Dan Majerle).

“It will be a big win (to get Peabody No. 700); we’re going to get that done for him, too,” Max said. “It will be exciting for him to get his 700th win, if we win .. but, we got it.”

He smiled.

With the kind of season he and his teammates are having, who can doubt him?

As a guard, Max Majerle is making 51.8 percent of his shots from the field and is second on the team averaging 16 points a game.

Backcourt mate Gonzales is averaging 19.7 points a game while making 48.6 percent of his field-goal attempts.

Majerle, who had 15 points against Mesa, and Gonzales have combined to make 42.5 percent of their 3-point attempts.

PIMA WOMEN FALL TO RIVAL MESA

Todd Holthaus’ team (17-4, 9-2 ACCAC) suffered its second loss this season to longtime rival Mesa (17-6, 11-0) in Wednesday’s game at the West Campus Gym.

Freshman post player Kiley Sours-Miller, the NJCAA Division II Player of the Week, had to play through foul trouble throughout before fouling out in the last few seconds in the 63-59 defeat.

Sours-Miller finished with a game-high 19 points as she went 9 for 13 from the field. She also had eight rebounds and four blocks.

She earned the national honor after averaging a double-double of 17 points and 14.5 rebounds while shooting 53 percent (17 of 32) from the field. She also totaled six blocks and two steals and had 17 offensive rebounds in wins over South Mountain and Glendale.

“Honestly, I’m grateful they picked me as a player of the week, but my main focus was just this Mesa game,” Sours-Miller said. “We didn’t give up. We were down by 12 points. I think we have a lot of fight in us.

“We have to work on the offensive rebounds (for the opponent) and the backdoors we were getting beat on, but other than that, I think we’re good.”

Mesa had all 11 of its offensive rebounds in the second half, when the Jackrabbits fended off the Aztecs.

“At the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, they got too many second-chances and those second-chances came back to bite us,” Holthaus said.

PIMA STARTING PG MISSES GAME WITH CONCUSSION PROTOCOL

Holthaus did not have starting point guard Melicia Nelson available against Mesa because of concussion protocol.

Nelson is averaging 5.3 points, 6.6 assists, 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.

Holthaus mentioned that he believes Nelson will be available when Pima plays at Scottsdale on Wednesday.

“She got hit on the head Saturday (against Glendale) and to play again on a Wednesday, it was just too close,” Holthaus said. “I would rather have her at the end of the season than try to rush her back.”

AMPHI GRAD VITAL SCORES SEASON-HIGH 18 POINTS

Amphi alum Mattanaya Vital has scored in double-figures in two of the last three games after scoring in single-digits in all of the previous games this season.

She finished with a season-high 18 points off the bench while making 5 of 10 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

“She’s kind of finding her groove like she did at Amphi, when she was a scorer at Amphi,” Holthaus said of Vital, who sat out her first season in the program two years ago because of an ACL tear. “That’s what we need her to be. Now, she’s getting her confidence back. She’s found her minutes and making the most of it.

“We need her. Having an outside threat like Matt is so good for Kiley because you can pull the defense out and it frees up Kiley. We just have to keep building on that and stay confident.”

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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