Men's Cagers Run Win Streak To 6, Defeat LA Trade-Tech

The Pasadena CIty College men's basketball team rattled off its sixth consecutive victory, 79-67, over visiting Los Angeles Trade-Tech on Friday and improved to 2-0 in the South Coast Conference North Division.

The Lancers (13-7 overall) now travel to face state #5-ranked Mt. San Antonio (18-2, 2-0) on Wednesday, Jan. 31 in a 5 p.m. game where the winner will move into first place by themselves. Seven-time defending conference champion East Los Angeles dropped to 0-2 after the Mounties sent them to a 79-64 defeat.

The PCC win over the Beavers featured 14 lead changes as the Lancers led 40-39 at halftime but trailed 50-46 with 14:43 remaining. At that point, the Lancers went on a 9-0 run, including four points by Jalen Vazquez. The point guard drilled a three followed by another trey by Dylan Swillis that gave PCC a 10-point lead (63-53).

LATT trimmed it to one, 66-65, but a another big 3-pointer by Deen Abdur-Rahmann would help ice the victory at 75-65 with 2:19 left.

All five Lancers starters scored in double figures, led by Abdur-Rahmann's 18 points plus seven rebounds. Swillis added 16 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and three blocks while Shant Chenorhavorian scored 16 (four 3-pointers) with five boards, four assists and three steals. Myles Watkins chipped in 12 points and Vazquez contributed 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and blocked two shots. 

Jalyn White was this game's top bench player tallying four points and five rebounds. Once again, PCC reached double digits in 3-point bombs with 10. Since the start of 2024, the Lancers are 7-1 and have hit 79 treys for almost an exact 10 per game average. 

Since taking over the program in 2022-2023, PCC head coach Ryan Frazer has compiled a sparkling 35-16 record for a .686 win percentage. 

Watkins, who is averaging a team best 17.6 points a game, is climbing up the PCC all-time scoring list as he surpassed 700 points (707), placing him currently 39th in the program's 99-year history.

At his current pace, the sophomore wing could reach the top 20 and has an opportunity with playoffs to hit the 900-point mark. Only 17 players have scored as many with Watkins in range of catching James Nichols (876 points, 1978-1980) for #18 on the list.