As the holiday break approaches, three teams sit atop the ACCAC men's basketball standings with 5-1 league records. Scottsdale, Mesa and Arizona Western will head into 2020 in first place.
Scottsdale has an 11-1 overall mark following wins over Phoenix, 91-73, and Planet Athlete Post Grad, 105-69. In the PC contest Xavier Fuller, tied for the conference scoring lead, pumped in 30 points hitting 13-17 from the field. Meanwhile, the player he is tied with, Lamar Mitchell, had 25 of his own. Against Planet Athlete Fuller had 20 more, but Boogie Anderson paced SCC with 24, hitting 11 of 13 as the Artichokes shot .600 from the field as a team.
Mesa had a big road will over Cochise, 72-64, as Rajhan Billingsley led the way with 19 and Cameron Burist added 14 for the 7-3 T-Birds. Naje Smith poured in 29 for CC which is 6-4, 3-3.
Arizona Western (11-3, 5-1) split a pair of league games, losing to Pima, 87-79, and defeating Chandler-Gilbert, 51-48. Cash Williams led the way in the Pima contest with 17 and Daniel Kiely had 15. PCC (7-4, 4-2) got 23 and 12 rebounds from Rashad Smith and 21 from Jake Lieppert. Two nights later Cash Williams scored 14 versus CGCC while four players had ten points each for the Coyotes (5-7, 0-6).
Three other teams sit at 4-2 in conference play entering the holidays.
Eastern Arizona (11-2, 4-2) edged Glendale, 83-82. Anthony Anderson led with 19 and Nathaniel Pollard, Jr., had 18 for EAC. GCC (8-4, 4-2) had five in double figures paced by Terrell Handy Johnson with 18 as it shot .614 from the floor but fell a point short.
Pima won three times during the week. Along with the win over AZ Western, the Aztecs beat Tohono O'odham, 102-84, and PHH Prep, 116-95. In the TOCC contest, Jordan Robinson knocked down 28 points going 9-13 from the floor. Lieppert added 22 more. Robinson then canned 29, including a perfect 14-14 from the free throw line, as six Aztecs scored in double figures.
A number of ACCAC teams will play in various holiday tournaments the rest of December before conference play returns Jan. 3-4.
