Men's Basketball Searching For 1st Win

For a brief moment Wednesday night, the Pasadena City College men's basketball grabbed the lead v. visiting Pierce during the second half of its non-conference game. Joevontay Clayton's fastbreak layup capped a 14-1 Lancers run for a 54-51 PCC advantage with just under 14 minutes left in the game.

But that scoring run was followed by a stretch of 15 consecutive missed field goal attempts by PCC as Pierce sent the Lancers to their eighth straight loss, 85-66, at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium. Pasadena dropped to 0-8 thus far in 2021-22 and matched the longest losing streak by the program since an 8-game string in 2018.

In the scoring rally, sophomore forward Joseph Rousseau had an offensive rebound and tip-in and a dunk while Devan Ford made four throws and dished out two assists.

"There are points of the game where we show high competitiveness, but we can't afford to go cold from the field," said PCC interim head coach Hosie Ward. "We're striving to find consistency and keep our players' confidence level up. We played a strong first half (trailed 45-40 by halftime) and outplayed Pierce for 26 minutes. It was a major improvement from our last loss."

Pierce (4-4) used 13 bombs from 3-point land to distance itself from the Lancers. EJ Bushner scored a game-high 25 points, including six treys, while Larry Williams added 21 points off the bench (three 3-pointers). 

For PCC, Ford scored 14 points off the bench (9-for-10 on free throws) and added four assists while Rousseau was the most effective starter on 12 points and seven rebounds (5-for-8 from the field). Clayton and Jordan Flowers each added 10 points as the Lancers bench scored 42 of the team's points. LeRaun Peron had six points and three boards in limited minutes. Starting guard Brandon Torimaru contributed eight points and three steals.

One area, the Lancers will have to work on is ball control as they are averaging 24 turnovers per game (23 v. Pierce). PCC shot an outstanding 18-for-22 from the free throw line (82 percent) v. the Brahmas. On Friday, Dec. 3, PCC next plays at state #29-ranked Cerritos College in a 6 p.m. tip-off.