Men's Basketball Runs Into Hot Teams In Skip Robinson Classic

The Pasadena City College men's basketball team hosted the 8th Skip Robinson Classic Nov. 13-15, but found its opponents a tall task in a pair of losses for the Lancers.

On Saturday, PCC (1-2) got into a run-and-gun battle with Glendale with the Vaqueros, falling 92-80. Glendale made 16-for-31 from 3-point land which only neutralized the Lancers' solid 12-for-33 on long-range baskets.

Brandin Jackson came off the bench to score 20 points, making 4-for-9 from 3-point range. Darrius Freeman added 14 points and seven assists while Gavin Hollins-Law also jumped off the PCC bench to score 12 points with eight rebounds.

The Lancers reserves outscored the starting five, 47-33. Starter Julian Thompkins netted eight points, starter Gor-el Zollicoffer seven points and reserve Churchill Ikenador tallied six points.

The Vaqueros, who won both of their games at the tourney, relied on three players reaching 20 or more points in Brandon Blair (24, four 3s), Hunter Smith (21, five treys), and Omree Bentov (20, four triples).

SoCal #12-ranked Cypress pinned a 77-65 defeat on the Lancers on Thursday. In that game, PCC jumped ahead 11-4 on a Cooper Creamer slam, and eventually the teams were tied 32-32 by halftime.

In the second half, PCC played catch-up the entire 20 minutes as it fell behind by as much as 15 at 69-54. The Lancers had no answers to stop Cypress forward Michael Wright, who scored 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. 

Freeman paced the Lancers wtih 19 points (9-for-11 at the free throw line), and both Zollicofer and Thompkins scored 10 each. Donovan Ford had an impressive nine assists while Creamer contributed seven points and 10 boards. 

PCC next plays at El Camino on Friday, Nov. 21 (3 p.m.) then returns home for a game v. Compton on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 5 p.m.