Men's Basketball Holds Off #21 Cerro Coso To Advance In Regionals

A feisty #21-seeded Cerro Coso men's basketball team gave #12 Pasadena City College all it could handle, including a raucous fan base of Coyotes baseball players who stayed noisy throughout Wednesday's SoCal Regional Round 1 game. The Lancers, though, kept their poise and gutted out a 71-68 victory to keep its glorious 2022-23 season going.

PCC (21-8 overall) will travel to face #5 seed San Diego Miramar on Saturday, Feb. 25 in a 7 p.m. Round 2 contest. The Lancers won for only the second time ever in a home playoff at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium dating back to when it opened in 1999. It was the first home postseason win since 2004 when the Lancers defeated Fullerton in PCC Hall of Fame head coach George Terzian's final season directing the program. 

It was also the first playoff victory by a Lancers team since 2013 when as a then #12 seed they upset #5 Saddleback, 53-49. 

Pasadena jumped out to an 11-4 lead, but the Coyotes (17-12), a third place team from the Inland Empire Athletic Conference, would take a 28-23 lead and a 32-30 advantage into halftime. 

PCC head coach Ryan Frazer made some adjustments at halftime in trying to get his team energized. Early second-half dunks by Nigel Wilson and Nurridin Abdur-Rahmann got the crowd going. 

Just 3:42 in, the 6-9 Wilson drained a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, giving PCC its first lead in more than a 17-minute span. The Lancers then went on a 10-2 run including a layup-and-one by Myles Watkins and a bomb from 25 feet by Shant Chenorhavorian that gave them their biggest lead at 49-40. 

Cerro Coso wouldn't go away immediately posting eight straight points to cut it to one. Rande Harper ignited another Pasadena spurt with a steal and slam and a fast-break basket off a bomb pass by Chenorhavorian that upped the PCC lead back to double digits at 59-48. 

The Coyotes fought back with back-to-back triples from Sincere Edwards and Nate Jackson that cut it to 63-61 with 2:25 left. 

A key response took place next from Harper, who had sat out the previous four minutes after a suffering a muscle cramp that had two teammates carry him off to the bench. While not as inspiring as Willis Reed hobbling back on the floor following an injury in the 1970 NBA finals, Harper's return to action lifted the Lancers spirits when he drilled a 15-foot jumper that made it 65-61 with 1:55 remaining.

Watkins hit four free throws and Jayden Winfrey two down the stretch to close out the hard-fought, 3-point victory. 

Wilson led PCC with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks while Harper added 15 points. Jonathan Tchengang also recorded a double-double on 12 points and 11 boards and Watkins chipped in 11 points. Abdur-Rahmann totaled eight points and six rebounds and Winfrey six points and six rebounds. 

PCC shortened its bench in using just seven players overall. For Cerro Coso, five players reached double figures in scoring led by 18 from Jackson, who sank six 3s. 

The Lancers shot 52 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes after making just 33.3 in the first half. While the statistics indicated the game's closeness, one area where the Lancers controlled things was in the paint in outscoring the Coyotes in that category, 34-16. 

"I thought the team did a good job of staying present in the moment, and not getting too high or too low," Frazer said. "I think that's how we were able to stay calm when Cerro Coso hit six 3s as their last shots to finish the first half. At this point of the season, a few bad minutes can be the thing that ends your year. In the playoffs, rankings don't matter, and as we experienced in this game, every team is going to bring their A game.

"I was hoping we could put some more separation between us, but I have to give Cerro Coso its credit it played hard and made it tough on us all night."

Ironically, Frazer had defeated Cerro Coso in the opening round last year (93-70) when he guided his MiraCosta team as a #21 seed to the Coyotes' 12 seed. That Spartans team won three regional playoff games to reach the state tournament. Frazer's MC team also beat PCC's next opponent Miramar twice in Pacific Coast Athletic Conference play last season.

This season, Miramar is a far better squad at 25-3 after winning the PCAC title. The Jets are on a 10-game win streak and are a perfect 14-0 at home. Both PCC and Miramar have a loss against #9 seed Cerritos (upset by #24 Copper Mountain last night) and both have wins over #6 seed LA Harbor. Forward Jakob Milling leads SDM, averaging 15.6 points and 12.1 rebounds a game. 

Rande Harper with a thundering dunk