By Joel Herrera
From left to right: Pima’s Mason Hunt (22), Aiden Schmidt (20) and Cooper Jones (23) huddle up during a timeout during their 111-76 win over Mesa Community College. Photo by Manuel Zepeda
Pima Men’s Basketball remains undefeated as they took care of business versus Mesa Community College on Wednesday, Jan. 29 with an ending score of 111-76. Mason Hunt scored 15 points off the bench. Max Majerle added another 15.
Now 23-0 (11-0 conference), the Aztecs remain with only seven regular season games in search of an undefeated regular season.
With those 111 points, this win marks the 13th game of the season where Pima reached the century mark in scoring. Alongside Hunt and Majerle, CohenJ Gonzalez (13), Kota Benson and Gabe Oldham (10) all scored in double digits for Pima in the win.
Alon Johnson led Mesa CC in scoring with 23 points off the bench.
Following up on winning their first meeting this season with Mesa on Dec.11, the Aztecs got off to a fast start, forcing a timeout from Mesa in just over three minutes into the game thanks in part to a 10-2 run.
Pima continued to control the game throughout the first half, led by early scoring from Gonzalez and Hunt who each scored in double digits in the half, Hunt with 12 and Gonzalez with 11.
Mesa cut Pima’s lead to 18 with 2:27 remaining in the half, but a 14-0 Aztec run, capped off by a Brigg Wolfe 3-pointer at the buzzer would give Pima all the momentum heading into the locker room with a 58-26 halftime lead.
Mesa CC started the second half on a 4-0 run, but Pima’s Majerle made each of his first two attempts from three to answer back.
The Aztecs continued to maintain around a 30-point lead throughout the second half, with some major highlight plays. One of those highlights was a thunderous poster dunk by freshman Isaac Johnson, who got the whole crowd off their seats in awe.
Despite a better-scoring half in the second by Mesa CC, the Aztecs still outscored them 53-50 and ended with a 35-point win.
As a team, Pima shot 63.5% overall, 54.5% from three and 79.2% from the free throw line.
The Aztecs had 27 team assists on the night, led by Gonzalez with 8.
Head Coach Brian Peabody shared his thoughts on Pima’s high assist number postgame. “People talk about our scoring, but that’s the reason we’re leading the country in scoring, because we also lead the country in assists,” Peabody said. “We do an extra pass drill every single day so it [the ball] doesn’t stick.”
Peabody also mentioned that he named Hunt as his player of the game. Hunt’s 15 points came off the bench on 5/7 shooting overall and 3/4 from three. The freshman forward additionally knocked down both of his free throws and recorded five rebounds.
Hunt reflected on his performance during a postgame interview. “I was feeling good, came out and hit my first midrange … getting in rhythm and then just my guards and my guys getting me set up to shoot,” Hunt said.
Hunt wasn’t surprised to score triple digits for the thirteenth time this season in the win. “That’s expected, with Peabody it’s a race to one hundred [points] every game … we get there and we know other teams can’t get there with us,” Hunt said.