Choppy Play, But #13 Men's Cagers Bounce Back

The state #13-ranked Pasadena City College men's basketball team returned to the win column Friday night, struggling shooting from the field, but making enough baskets to defeat visiting LA Trade-Tech, 70-61. PCC upped its record to 18-7 overall and 4-1 in second place of the South Coast Conference North Division.

The Lancers shot 37.5 percent from the field overall and fell behind an inspired, short-handed Beavers squad (4-21, 1-4) in the first half. With just six players dressed, LATT took a 24-15 lead on a Roland McDougall III dunk with a little more than seven minutes left before halftime. 

At that point, PCC went on a 14-4 run capped by Rande Harper's 3 to take the lead, 29-28, and had a 35-32 advantage by halftime. LA Trade-Tech continued to defend well and kept it close, trailing 41-38 by the 5-minute mark of the second half. 

Harper drained another corner trey that extended the Lancers advantage to 53-42 with 11:31 left. The Beavers wouldn't go away quietly and mounted another late run, cutting it to 66-61 on an Omari Ferguson layup with 1:22 remaining. Time and ball control was in the hands of PCC in closing out the victory, the team's 12th in the last 13 games.

PCC head coach Ryan Frazer thinks his team was still thinking a little about its loss and end to its 11-game win streak at now SCC North first-place and #8 East Los Angeles two nights earlier.  

"I think it's natural after playing a big game with so much emotion to have a little let down the next game," he said. "The important thing is we found a way to win and still keep our goals alive. This just proves that we are not a finished product by any means. We still have lots of things to improve on as we strive to reach our goals."

Jonathan Tchengang was one of the few Lancers at the top of his game as he scored a team-high 20 points, adding seven rebounds and four steals. The sophomore transfer from MiraCosta College is topping PCC in both scoring (13.5 points average) and rebounding (8.3 boards a contest) this season. Another was Harper, who tallied 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds coming off the bench. 

Center Nigel Wilson chipped in 12 points and five boards. Jordan Flowers supplied some spark off the bench late in the game, making two short 1-hand jumpers for four points. 

Trade Tech was paced by Devon Jainlett's 21 points and McDougall III's 20 points. 

PCC upped its home record at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium to 8-2, stretching the home win streak to seven straight. 

With 18 victories, the team has now the most wins by a Lancers team since the 2013-14 season when that squad finished 21-10. That PCC squad entered the playoffs as a #12 seed and upset #5 Saddleback in the second round before losing to #4 Chaffey in the third round.

Next up for the Lancers is a road conference contest on Wednesday, Feb. 8 in a 7 p.m. tip-off at Mt. San Antonio College.