Men's Basketball Settles For 2nd in SCC North, But Grabs #12 Home Seed v. #21 Cerro Coso On Wednesday

While the Pasadena City College men's basketball team was humbled slightly in losing its shot at grabbing a share of the South Coast Conference North Division championship on Friday, the Lancers are excited about securing the #12 seed in the upcoming Southern California Regional Playoffs. PCC hosts #21 Cerro Coso in a Round 1 game Wednesday, Feb. 22 with a 7 p.m. tip-off at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.

The Lancers (20-8 overall) lost again to the state's #7-ranked and now South #3 seed East Los Angeles College, 88-69, on Friday in front of the largest crowd ever for a men's basketball game at the HP Gym. With both sides of the stands pulled out for the much-hyped contest and a courtside of chairs also for fans, it's estimated that the crowd reached more than 600. The Lancers finished in second place in the division at 6-2.

PCC was sparked by 2-year letterman guard Jordan Flowers, who came off the bench on Sophomore Night and knocked down four 3-pointers in a span of a few minutes to give PCC a 27-25 lead. The thrill of the moment was shortlived as ELAC (24-3) went on a 19-0 scoring spurt over the last seven minutes for a 46-29 halftime lead. The Huskies never were threatened and enjoyed their seventh straight conference title, the last five to themselves after sharing the 2017 crown with Chaffey.

Flowers led the Lancers with his season high of 16 points, followed by frosh wing Nurridin Abdur-Rahmann with 13, sophomore wing Jonathan Tchengang 12 points and 10 rebounds, freshman wing Myles Watkins 11 points and four steals, and sophomore guard Rande Harper nine points and seven boards. For ELAC, Jon Sanders scored 21 points and Demetrius Calip tallied 19 off the bench.

Before the game, PCC head coach Ryan Frazer and his assistant coaching staff handed out framed jerseys to honor their sophomores Flowers, 2-year letterman Brandon Torimaru, Tchengang, Harper, Jayden Winfrey, Nigel Wilson and Caleb Gerber. 

"I thought Friday's game had a great environment, and was very special for both our student-athletes and ELAC's players," Frazer said. "Although we didn't get the outcome we wanted, I felt like learned a lot as we try to make our playoff run. Winning a conference championship was a goal of ours, but now we turn our attention to the postseason."

Frazer, in his first year at PCC, led MiraCosta last season as a #21 seed all the way to the state championship final eight tournament. Now, he will direct the Lancers as they host their first playoff game since 2019 when it lost as a #14 seed v. Cuesta. That was also the program's last postseason appearance. 

Southern California Playoff Bracket

Ticket Information for Playoff Games, pricing mandated by CCCAA