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Photo by Maxwell Williamson
Photo by Maxwell Williamson
Posted: Jan 09, 2026

SMCC Men's Basketball Travels to Mesa CC for Saturday Matinee

Tickets Video Recap Box Score
Game Leaders
South Mountain Community College
Pts: Blake Carabio - 32
Reb: Jadden Jones - 11
Ast: Travis Vasquez - 5
Mesa Community College
Pts: Denali McNeal - 30
Reb: Ezias Steffen - 8
Ast: Anthony Turner - 4
Team Stats
Full stats

PHOENIX --- 

The South Mountain Community College men's basketball team travels to league rival Mesa Community College to wrap up its first round of conference play on Saturday at 4 p.m. 

Game No. 17

South Mountain Community College (14-2, 4-1 ACCAC Division II)

@ Mesa Community College (8-5, 2-3)

January 10, 2026 | 4:00 PM MST | Mesa, AZ | Theo Heap Gymnasium

Media: CLICK HERE for the live video stream of the game

Probable Starters:

               

South Mountain CC Projected Starters

G – I'yar Shadowvine, 5-8, FR, Tacoma, WA

G – Parker Escalante, 6-0, SO-RS, Mesa, AZ

G – Blake Carabio, 6-1, SO, Peoria, AZ

W – Jadden Jones, 6-2, FR, Glendale, AZ

F – Gak Kueth, 6-6, FR, Peoria, AZ

 

Mesa Community College Projected Starters

G – Anthony Turner, 6-1, SO, Chandler, AZ

F – Ezias Steffen, 6-5, FR-RS, Phoenix, AZ

F – Matthew Phair, 6-4, FR, Mesa, AZ

F – Tyreek Dean, 6-5, SO, Leesville, LA

F – Kashar Benton, 6-9, SO, Chicago, IL

Up Next: Home vs. Chandler-Gilbert Community College | Wednesday, January 13 | 7:30 pm MST | Phoenix, AZ | The Cougar Den

Last Time Out

The SMCC men's basketball team held off a late rally from Scottsdale CC to secure a 68-65 road win on Jan. 7. Freshmen Travis Vasquez, Semajay James, and Eric Butler hit key free throws down the stretch, and Vasquez led SMCC with 13 points as the Cougars took sole possession of second in the ACCAC Division II standings.
 
Leading by seven with 90 seconds to play, the Fighting Artichokes chipped away at the lead and got it down to two on a 3-pointer with less than a minute to play. From there, Vasquez, James, and Butler made crucial free throws to seal the victory. SCC attempted a half-court heave to send the game into overtime, but it was off target.
 
CLICK HERE for the full recap and box score

The Coaches

Cory Hoff enters his first season at the helm of the Cougar program. Hoff takes over the program after serving the past two years as Associate Head Coach at New Mexico Military Institute, a NJCAA DI program located in Roswell, New Mexico. During Hoff's Career, his programs have achieved a NAIA DI National Championship, two Conference Tournament Championships, one Regular Season Championship, seven Playoff Appearances, 23 Top 25 wins, four All-Americans, 19 All-Conference awards and 14 professionals.

Lester Neal is 34-65 in his fourth year at Mesa Community College with a 19-48 record in ACCAC play. Neal is 3-5 against South Mountain CC.

Cougar Stat Leaders

Points: Blake Carabio (14.6 PPG), I'yar Shadowvine (13.8 PPG), Travis Vasquez (12.7 PPG)

Rebounds: Jadden Jones (8.1 RPG), Semajay James (6.3 RPG), Devone Pless (4.2 RPG)

Assists: Travis Vasquez (4.4 APG), Semajay James & I'yar Shadowvine (2.7 APG)

Thunderbird Stat Leaders

Points: Tyreek Dean (15.4 PPG), Ezias Steffen (13.5 PPG), Denali McNeal (13.4 PPG)

Rebounds: Kashar Benton (7.1 RPG), Tyreek Dean (7.0 RPG), Mike Alexander (4.8 RPG)

Assists: Kaden Gollhuir (3.4 APG), Ezias Steffen (2.7 APG), Ziair Finch (2.1 APG)

Watch Live & Stats

Video webcasts for all of SMCC's home games are available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/southmountaincc/ on Game Day. Game Previews will be posted prior to game day & Game Recaps will be posted after the conclusion of each contest on www.SMCCCougars.com.

Tough Scheduling

SMCC MBB will play 18 conference games against ACCAC opponents, which is one of the toughest conferences in the country. Additionally, SMCC has scheduled five non-conference games against NJCAA DI opponents with College of Southern Nevada, Community Christian College (2x), Miles Community College and Yavapai College on the schedule.

ACCAC Play

The ACCAC DII is made up of 7 programs. Each team plays 18 conference games during the season. Last season saw Pima Community College take home the ACCAC Regular Season & Region 1 Championships. Chandler-Gilbert CC, Glendale CC and South Mountain CC joined them in qualifying for the Region 1 Playoffs.

For updates on men's basketball, follow @SMCC_MBB on X, @southmountaincc_mbb on IG and follow us at SMCCCougars.com.