The Pima Community College men’s basketball team faced its toughest challenge of the season on Saturday against South Mountain and the Aztecs survived the scare 51-50 at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium.
The No. 5 Aztecs (21-0, 10-0 in ACCAC) won 51-50 as the final shot for the Cougars (17-4, 7-3) fell short and sophomore Taevean Fumutimi-Brown collected the rebound as time expired.
For the second straight game, the Aztecs have scored their lowest point total of the season. They scored 69 points in Wednesday’s victory at Chandler-Gilbert.
The Aztecs took their first lead of the second half at 43-42 on sophomore Isaac Johnson’s alley-oop dunk that was set up by freshman Gerron Graham. It was Pima’s first lead of the game since it was 6-5 early in the first half.
The Cougars would take one more lead at 46-45 but sophomore Mason Hunt drained a 3-pointer on the next possessions to stop any momentum.
The Aztecs trailed by as many as 11 points more than halfway through the first half.
They trailed 32-23 at halftime and went on to outscore the Cougars 28-18 in the second half.
Johnson shot 10 for 11 from the field with a game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Hunt scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half. He struggled from the field in the first half only going 1 for 7. The second half was a different story as he went 5 for 6 from the field. He also pulled down seven defense rebounds.
Graham had four rebounds, six assists, five steals and one block. Fellow freshman Isaiah Hill (formerly of Pueblo and Premier Prep Academy) had five points, three rebounds and three assists.
It was a tale of two halves as the Aztecs shot 33.3% (9 for 27) in the first half and 55.6% (10 for 18) in the second half.
South Mountain shot 40.6% (13 of 32) from the field in the first half but shot 28.6% (6 for 21) from downtown in the second half.
The Aztecs will play on the road for their next two games. They will be at Glendale on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
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