By Joel Herrera
Pima’s Wes Ball and South Mountain’s Jayven Driscoll tip off the two teams during Feb.15 afternoon matchup
On Feb. 15, Pima Men’s Basketball extended their winning streak to 27, handling the South Mountain Community College Cougars with ease with an ending score of 111-54.
Pima, now 27-0, remains perfect on the year with only three regular-season games remaining.
Highlights of the game included Wes Ball’s double-double and Gabe Oldham adding more dominance inside. Ball’s 17 points and 10 rebounds along with Oldham’s 14 points were accompanied by CohenJ Gonzalez, Max Majerle and Cooper Jones (11). Mason Hunt (13) and Isaac Johnson (10) additionally added double-digit scoring.
Jacob Taylor led South Mountain in scoring with 16 points.
Winners of the first two meetings, Pima wasted no time getting this one started. The Aztecs jumped out to another fast start, beginning the game on a 6-2 run and forcing a timeout from South Mountain within the first three minutes of the game.
Ball and Oldham would account for 10 of the first 12 points for Pima. The Aztecs would force another SMCC timeout after taking an 18-4 lead with 14:22 remaining in the half.
Pima would continue to completely shut down SMCC’s offense the rest of the half, as the Cougars did not reach double-digit scoring until under eight minutes remaining in the first.
From left to right: Pima’s Isaac Johnson (11), Gabe Oldham (32), Brigg Wolfe (24) and Cooper Jones (23) are all dialed in on defense during their 111-54 win over South Mountain on Feb.15.
Over the final 3:19 in the first half, Pima would go on a 12-2 run, led by Hunt knocking down two threes in that span to boost the Aztecs to a 48-16 halftime lead.
The second half was more of the same on both ends. Pima’s Majerle and Kota Benson got going on the offensive end, sparking a 12-4 run to start the half.
Head Coach Brian Peabody was able to go deeper into his bench with his team’s massive lead, which allowed guys like Cooper Jones and Brock Mendoza to post good numbers in their playing time.
Pima would outscore South Mountain 63-38 in the second, ultimately leading to their 111-54 victory. Pima then dominated the rebounding battle and points in the paint the entire night, led by Ball and Oldham.
The two shared their thoughts on their team’s dominating presence. “Last time we played at South, their post player was talking a little smack, so I think coming into this game we definitely had a chip on our shoulder,” Oldham said.
“We knew we had a size advantage so we wanted to abuse that, get easier looks for our guards by getting more attention on us,” Ball added.
The Aztecs recorded 63 total team rebounds on the afternoon. As mentioned before, Pima opened up both halves with a strong start, which helped the Aztecs build into their blowout win.
“A strong start is always nice because it gets the bench involved … everyone wants to keep playing,” Ball said.
Pima had 51 bench points on the afternoon. With only three regular-season games remaining until the postseason, Pima is taking it one game at a time until they host the divisional semifinals.
“We’re ready, we’re ready, we’re excited … we need to go back to Danville [Illinois] after last year,” said Ball.
Pima improves to 27-0 (15-0 conference) while South Mountain falls to 10-17 (5-10 conference).