By ED PETRUSKA Contributing Writer Feb 25, 2020

SIGNAL PEAK — There will be no playoffs for the Central Arizona College men's basketball team. At least the Vaqueros went out with a flourish by stunning the conference co-leader in Tuesday night's season finale at the George Young Activity Center.

Central defeated Eastern Arizona College 86-74 to finish with a 14-16 overall record and a 9-13 mark in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. The Vaqueros snapped a four-game losing streak that ultimately decided their postseason fate.

The Gila Monsters came in tied with Cochise for the top spot in the ACCAC. EAC (24-6, 16-6 ACCAC) whittled the margin to three points early in the second half, but the Vaqueros kept their poise and never relinquished the lead.

"It feels good to get this win, especially for our sophomores," CAC coach Tramaine Aaron said. "I wanted our kids to play with pride, even though we had lost our opportunity for the postseason. I hope our freshmen remember this moment and bring it next year."

Four Vaqueros scored in double figures. Leading the way was JC Canahuate with 20 points, followed by Brenton Woods with 19, Jalen Menzies with 18 and Abdoul Ndao with 14.

"We got great play, great contributions, from everybody," Aaron said.

Anthony Anderson III scored 16 of his team-high 22 points in the second half for Eastern. Jalen Brown had 16 points and Nathaniel Pollard Jr. scored 15 for the Gila Monsters, who topped CAC 75-70 in their Jan. 18 matchup in Thatcher.

Aaron said Central's transition offense was the difference.

"It helped us extend the lead and turn some stops into scores," he said. The Gila Monsters "did not get too many transition buckets. We won that battle tonight."

The Vaqueros owned a 40-28 lead late in the first half before settling for a 40-32 advantage at the break. After EAC made it 44-41 on two free throws by Anderson with 16:57 remaining, Central scored the next five points capped by Menzies' fast-break layup with 14:21 left.

The lead grew to 10 points at 56-46 on a 3-pointer by Woods with 13:01 remaining. Eastern's Ty Rankin made a 3-pointer with 11:21 left to trim the deficit to 58-54, but the Gila Monsters would get no closer.

The Vaqueros twice led by 13 points in the final four minutes, going up 76-63 on a layup by Menzies with 3:35 remaining following an Eastern turnover and at 82-69 with 2:16 left when Canahuate made a fast-break layup.