Downtown Brown Helps Men's Cagers Break Losing Streak

Freshman guard Justin Brown flashed back memories of NBA legend "Downtown" Freddie Brown with his long-range shooting on Coaches v. Cancer Night. In a 16-minute span of the second half, Brown came off the bench and burned the net for seven 3-point bombs for all 21 of his points as his Pasadena City College Lancers broke an 8-game losing streak, defeating LA Trade Tech, 74-62, at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.

Brown, a 6-foot newcomer from Pioneer High, scored his season high and finished the game 7-for-13 on long-range opportunities. In the five games, Brown has scored in double figures this season, the team is 4-1. 

PCC (9-15) won its first South Coast Conference North Division game after six defeats. The Lancers' defense was the story of a low-scoring first half. The team shut down Trade Tech's offensive flow and held the Beavers (7-14, 2-5) to just 11 points in the game's first 16 minutes, leading 21-11. At halftime, PCC held a 27-18 advantage.

In the second half, Brown, heated up immediately, hitting back-to-back treys from the corner for a 33-19 lead. When Trade Tech made a push with two 3-pointers by Maxam Peranidze, Brown answered with three straight high-arc swishes as PCC led 51-43 with 7:35 left. After Brown was finally focused on defensively by the Beavers, PCC starting guard Josiah Woods got into the long-range act with back-to-back 3s. Brown drained his final triple with 4:07 to go that put the game away at 62-49. 

Woods, a 6-3 freshman from El Camino Real High, played one of his best games as a Lancer. He scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists. In all, PCC made 12-for-26, a sizzling 46.2 percent from beyond the circle. The Lancers made more 3s than 2s, 12-to-11. Jordan Simpson added seven points and seven rebounds while Kyle Mitchell had seven points and six boards. Ross Lee scored three points, but passed out six assists with two steals. 

Woods scored in double digits for the third straight game, earning his first start in almost a month. 

"It's been a tough second half of the season," said PCC head coach Michael Swanegan. "I was happy for the players and our coaches to get on the win board again. We keep working hard in practice. We played well defensively after some really poor efforts. That was a key and we finally started to work the ball for an open shot. Brown got hot and Woods came up big too."

The Lancers travel to Mt. San Antonio College on Friday, Feb. 9 in a 7 p.m. conference tip-off.