By Jim Richards
The race is on for the lead in the ACCAC and the Cougars are right in the thick of it.
In their first home game of what should be a thrilling post-holiday-season run, the No.9-ranked (Division II) Cougars posted their biggest victory of the season Saturday night, beating No.20 (Division I) Eastern Arizona, 66-60, handing the Gila Monsters their first conference loss of the season.
Eastern, along with Division I powers Arizona Western (No.17) and Mesa Community College, are all tied for the lead in the ACCAC with 7-1 records. The Cougars are one game back at 6-2 and, along with Mesa, are vying to become the first Maricopa County school to win the ACCAC in over a decade.
“We’ll have to beat one of those teams on the road if that were to happen,” SMCC coach Dan Nichols said. “I have a lot of confidence in these guys. They can beat anybody.”
Once again, sophomore guard Tyrone Kelley was the star of the game taking charge offensively over a critical stretch early in the second half before hitting several pressure free throws in the waning minutes. Kelley battered his former school for 24 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Dave Cuen added 14 points and sharp-shooting Roy Prieto came off the bench to score 11 for SMCC which hit 27 of 36 free throws in the game.
“Defensively, we won that game,” Nichols said. “We shut them down and had them confused a little bit.”
Eastern, one of the conference’s taller teams with six players on its roster at 6-feet-6 or taller, got SMCC’s 6-6 center B.J. Dotson in foul trouble early in the first half. But, 6-7 center Trent Volk came in and filled the void and received praise from Nichols afterward.
“(Volk) gives us a lot on the defensive end,” Nichols said. “Our size is a little bit deceiving. Our wing guys are 6-4 and 6-5. We don’t have a giant, but physically, we have good size and our guys jump well and can rebound.We’re really long on the perimeter. That’s one of our strengths.”
SMCC holds a commanding three-game lead over Phoenix College (3-5) for the Division II lead in the ACCAC. Glendale, which had been neck and neck with the Cougars, was forced to forfeit each of their pre-holiday games and are now at 2-6.
The Cougars will travel to Tucson to face Pima CC Wednesday before returning to the Valley to face Chandler-Gilbert in a rare 3:00 game that will be played at Mesa Community College.