Men's Cagers Settle For 2-1 At SBCC Holiday Classic

The Pasadena City College men's basketball team let one slip away in the semifinals of the Santa Barbara City College Holiday Classic Dec. 12-14, but the Lancers 2-1 showing garnered third place at the tourney. PCC upped its overall record to 8-5, winners of eight of the last 10 contests.

The Lancers would have been playing in the championship game (tourney title won by LA Valley) but lost in two overtimes against Long Beach City in the semis, 106-98. In that game's last few seconds, PCC led 79-76 but LBCC's Jace Bass hit a 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime. The Lancers led again, 94-92, in the first OT, but a missed free throw was followed by a Vikings rebound that led to a fastbreak layup by Bass at the buzzer, sending it to a second OT. The final five minutes was all Long Beach, outscoring the Lancers, 14-2.

Bass scored 41 points for the Vikings while Gabriel Ajemian scored 32 to lead the Lancers. London Benford added 21 points, five steals and five assists. Michael Harris added 16 points off the bench and Lafayette Sanders 10 points and eight rebounds.

PCC opened the tourney with a 78-73 win over Bakersfield. The Lancers trailed 37-28 at halftime and were behind by five as last as 3:21 remaining but a furious rally resulted in the triumph. All-SBCC Tournament selection Rasheet Wilson had one of the highest-scoring halves in PCC history with 29 of his game-high 34 points over the final 20 minutes. Patric Panoosi added 13 points and Benford had 11 points and six steals. Wilson also tied a PCC school record for highest free throw percentage with a minimum of 10 shots (set several times) by making all 11 of his free throws for 100 percent. The freshman guard knocked down five 3-pointers.

In the third place final, Wilson poured in 27 points, Harris tallied 22 points and Panoosi scored 19 as the Lancers rolled to a season-high scoring performance in a 97-77 victory over Golden West. The Lancers led 46-26 by halftime and had a fine showing at the charity stripe, making 32 of 40 attempts for an 80 percent efficiency. Wilson was 9-for-12 at the line while Ajemian was 8-for-10 as part of his 10 points.

Coach Michael Swanagen's Lancers close out the 2019 portion of the schedule on Dec. 28-29 at the Imperial Valley Crossover Tourney. PCC faces Imperial Valley on Dec. 28 in a 5 p.m game and then play Copper Mountain on Dec. 29 at 3 p.m.