By Joel Herrera
Pima’s Wes Ball and South Mountain’s Drew Hoxie tip off the NJCAA Region 1, Division 2 Semifinals on March 5, 2025. Photo by Manuel Zepeda.
Following their perfect regular season, Pima Men’s Basketball continued their winning ways in their opener of the NJCAA Division 2 Men’s Basketball tournament. The Aztecs knocked off region opponent South Mountain Community College with a final score of 80-55 Wednesday, March 5 at the Pima West Gym.
CohenJ Gonzales led the Aztecs in scoring with 18 points, with freshmen Isaac Johnson adding 17 off the bench.
Wes Ball (12) and Kota Benson (10) also added double-figure scoring for Pima. Drew Hoxie led South Mountain in scoring with 14 points.
An uncharacteristic start for the Aztecs, they found themselves down 5-0 in the first 75 seconds. Head coach Brian Peabody called two timeouts in frustration in that span.
Benson would get Pima on the scoreboard after that timeout, knocking down his first of two threes on the night.
Both teams would go back and forth with scoring, with South Mountain taking a lead as large as seven points with 11:39 remaining in the first half, a deficit the Aztecs haven’t faced in months.
Pima would battle back and after a tie game at 24 all, Pima would go on a 12-4 run to end the first half and take a 36-28 lead into halftime.
It was another back-and-forth start scoring-wise starting the second half, but Pima began to pull away using a 13-4 run and an explosive poster dunk by Max Majerle.
After that uncharacteristic first half and rocky start to the second, Ball did all of his scoring in the second half and Johnson did most of his in the same period to help Pima extend their lead to as many as 26.
Ball movement was a major factor for the Aztecs, as they pushed the ball in transition and got back to looking like the fast-paced Pima basketball team we’re used to seeing.
Benson led the Aztecs with five assists on the night, a big reason why they were able to pull away late.
Benson shared his thoughts on his teammates, who helped him receive those five assists, “The chemistry since last year has carried forth into this year … that speaks to our record [31-0], it speaks to our ranking [No. 1 nationally] and it speaks to what we want to do which is win a national championship,” Benson said.
Pima guard Kota Benson during a post-game interview after the Aztecs win over South Mountain CC in the NJCAA Division 2 Region 1 first round. The sophomore finished with 10 points, five assists and three rebounds. Photo by Manuel Zepeda
With most of Johnson’s 17 points coming in the second half for Pima, the freshmen set the tone for the Aztecs as they built their scoring lead.
“We started off slow so I knew we had to pick it up if we wanted to win … sticking with the team and staying consistent,” Johnson said. “We need our bench alive the whole game if we want to win.”