Vaqueros fall to Phoenix College

SIGNAL PEAK — There's a reason why Phoenix College is ranked No. 10 in Division II men's basketball and sits atop the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference standings.

The Bears were at their best on Saturday at the George Young Activity Center, rolling to a 91-75 victory over Central Arizona. Phoenix (19-4, 12-3 ACCAC) led by as many as 32 points in routing the Vaqueros for the second time this season (Phoenix prevailed 89-69 on Dec. 7).

"In warm-ups, I felt like our energy was good," CAC coach Tramaine Aaron said. "What happened is, I don't think they believed how good Phoenix College really is."

That was apparent from the outset. The Bears built a 7-0 lead before Central (12-11, 5-10 ACCAC) finally got on the board with nearly four minutes elapsed. Phoenix led 24-8 with 11:18 remaining in the first half and was up 51-34 at the break after Johnathan Matthews sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The deficit grew to 27 points on Matthews' 3-point play with 11:12 left. A 3-pointer by Davis Wade extended the margin to 78-46 with 9:15 remaining.

"We were not as focused as we needed to be. The IQ just wasn't there," Aaron said. "I thought we were there physically and mentally as far as being ready to play, but what was frustrating was the way we let guys make (uncontested) shots."

The Bears made 11 of 28 3-pointers and shot 51 percent from the field overall. In addition, they went 18 for 22 on free throws and converted 15 CAC turnovers into 15 points. They came into the game ranked No. 1 in the ACCAC in 3-point shooting (.413) and No. 3 in field-goal shooting (.487) and free-throw shooting (.705).

Matthews came off the bench to finish with 19 points. Lavette Parker made four 3-pointers and scored 18 points, Rees Plummer had 12 and Quinton Johnson scored 11 off the bench for Phoenix, which has won eight of nine.

After falling behind by 32 points, the Vaqueros put together runs of 10-2 and 9-0 to reduce the deficit to 84-67 with 2:36 remaining. Had they happened earlier, Aaron said, the outcome might have been much tighter.

Three-pointers by Karriem Simmons and Calvin Johnson Jr. sparked the first surge. Simmons had two more 3-pointers during the second run.

Simmons led all scorers with 22 points, getting 15 in the second half. Simon Okolue had 18 points and Johnson scored 12 for the Vaqueros, who were coming off Wednesday night's 84-82 win at Tohono O'odham.

Central had a terrible time at the line, connecting on just 8 of 20 free throws. The Vaqueros entered as the conference's No. 2 free-throw shooting team (.719).

CAC made 9 of 18 3-pointers and shot 45 percent overall.

The Vaqueros went into Saturday's play with a one-game lead over Eastern Arizona in the battle for the fourth and final berth in the Division I Region 1 tournament. They play four of their seven remaining regular-season games at home.