Share:

An imposing 13-point lead at halftime was not enough for the Lancers basketball team as it fell to the LA Trade Tech Beavers in overtime 84-77 on Feb. 16.

PCC led the game for almost all of the 40 minutes of regulation and allowed LATT to score with 18 seconds left to send it to overtime. LATT’s Jordan Watson had 31 points and PCC was unable to stop any of the Beavers’ second-chance points.

The Lancers fall to 7-17 overall and 3-8 in South Coast Conference play. The Beavers improve to 5-20 overall and an abysmal 2-10 conference record.

“We just had some bad luck towards the end of the ball game,” PCC Head Coach Mike Swanegan Sr. said. “We found a way to lose it and turned the ball over too much.”

Before the eventual collapse in overtime, the Lancers had been playing well. Sophomore Evan Brooks had ten points and five rebounds. Sophomore center Lorelle Martin showed his dominance, accounting for 17 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Bryce Clifton lifted the spirits of the team and the PCC crowd by executing and facilitating two alley-oop dunks. Sophomore shooting guard Mike Swanegan Jr. added 21 points in the effort, including six three-pointers, and had a chance to walk off with a game-winning shot.

“I actually felt pretty good about [the shot], I just came up short,” Swanegan Jr. said.

While the Lancers allowed Tech back into the game and eventually lost, the night itself had a positive emphasis. Friday’s games were part of a night that was dubbed “Coaches vs. Cancer.” The color pink was omnipresent throughout the Hutto-Patterson Gym to designate the games’ recognition of breast cancer. The two PCC basketball teams wore pink warm-ups and socks, and Lancers sophomore shooting guard Steven Shares spoke at halftime about his grandmother who had been recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I just wanted to speak and show our respect to those with breast cancer,” Shares said during his halftime speech. “This Monday my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer, so we have a war ahead of us. But I just wanted to acknowledge those who overcame cancer and those who couldn’t and just show our love and support.”

The eloquence of Shares was echoed by Swanegan Sr. who said that “Coaches vs. Cancer” was a success.

“[Steven] did great. We just found out about his grandmother this week,” Swanegan Sr. said. “‘Coaches vs. Cancer went well; we just wish we could’ve gotten a victory out of it.”

Follow: