The Pasadena City College men's basketball team has fully recovered from a 1-5 start to the 2025-26 season by winning for the sixth time in its last seven contests. On Monday afternoon at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium, PCC improved to 8-7 overall by defeating Copper Mountain, 62-53.
The Lancers used solid defense and controlled the board battle, 49-34, to cut down the Cactii (9-6) as both Cooper Creamer (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Donovan Ford (10 points, 10 boards) accomplished double-doubles. Darius Freeman led the way overall with 13 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
Copper Mountain cut it to 51-50 with less six minutes to play, but PCC went on a 10-0 run to put it away. Ford had two baskets, one on a putback and Gor-el Zollicoffer swished a corner trey in the spurt.
"We've clamped down on our defense and making it harder for opponents to get easy baskets," said PCC interim head coach Spenser Nunes. "We're still working on our maturity as a fairly young team. There are times we get in the way of ourselves but we're also jelling in important spots during games, allowing us to get in that victory column. We're getting better and it's showing in the results."
On Dec. 19-20, the Lancers split two games at the College of the Sequoias Crossover. In the opener, Ford's layup with 10 seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime, 62-62, but Lemoore went on to end PCC's 4-game win streak, 74-72. Freeman again led the squad with 15 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, and four steals while Ford tallied 14 points, 12 boards and five helpers. Zollicoffer dropped in 14 points, including four 3-pointers, and added eight rebounds.
In the 5-minute OT, Lemoore jumped ahead 67-62 on a triple and two free throws by Davion Jackson and Pasadena never caught up.
In the COS finale, it was a balanced effort as PCC went long-distance to hit 50 percent on 3-pointers (13-for-26) in a 77-54 trimph over Porterville. Seven different Lancers made baskets from long range, led by Brandin Jackson making three as part of his 11 points (plus six assists) and Zollicoffer also draining three for his nine.
Ford led the squad in scoring (13 points) and rebounding (eight), Zakhary Van Patten posted 10 (two treys), Korey Perkins led the starting five with 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks, and Gavin Hollins-Law netted eight points with two 3s and had three assists.
The Lancers trailed 39-38 by halftime, then Hollins-Law hit two 3s, followed by back-to-back bombs by Jackson to jump ahead 52-43. PCC outscored the Pirates, 39-15, over the final 20 minutes, holding Porterville to just five field goals.
PCC closes out the year 2025 on Dec. 30 with a 5 p.m. road contest at state #24-ranked Palomar.
Coach Nunes in festive holiday attire
