The Pasadena City College men’s basketball team had its best offensive effort in more than a month in a 91-79 win over visiting LA Harbor College Jan. 12. The win improved the Lancers to 8-14 overall as PCC enters the 8-game, South Coast Conference North Division schedule this week.

PCC is the defending co-champions of the division with LA City. This week, the Lancers open at Mt. San Antonio Wednesday, Jan. 17, then travel to play the LA City Cubs on Friday, Jan. 19. Both road games have 7:30 p.m. tip-offs.

In the victory over Harbor, the Lancers overcame a 46-39 halftime deficit by putting together a 22-3 scoring spurt in the first five minutes of the second half. The Lancers shot an excellent .524 from the field overall (33 of 63 shots) and were .500 on 3-pointers (6 of 12).

Freshman forward Clarence Jones scored his season-high 25 points and added a game-high 12 rebounds to lead the Lancer charge. Jones was 11-for-17 from the floor, including a few powerful dunks. Sophomore guard Jon Wilburn added 22 points with 5 assists and three 3-point baskets. Sophomore forward Franklin Temple again is playing up to his conference MVP ability of a year ago as he tallied 18 points, 11 rebounds and a team-high 6 assists with 2 blocked shots.

Temple recently became the 50th player in Lancer history to score at least 500 points in his career. Temple is the team’s leading scorer (averaging 13.5 points), leading rebounder (9.8 boards average), leading assists man (52 total and 2.7 average) and has made more free throws (84 of 132, .636 percentage) and more field goals (86 of 179, .480) than any other Lancer.

On Jan. 10, PCC lost to visiting Long Beach, 67-61, as Jones scored 13 points.

The Lancers next home game at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium will be Jan. 24 against LA Trade Tech College.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL—On Dec. 28, PCC Head Coach Joe Peron won his 100th game in charge of the Lady Lancers’ program in a 66-59 win over College of the Desert at the Desert Holiday Tournament. Peron reached the century mark in just 4-1/2 seasons.

The Lancers (16-7 overall) have had to play without top offensive player Ariel Towns (who has missed five games due to a leg injury), but the three-time defending SCC champions have won three of their last four games. This includes a 48-45 victory over LA Harbor Jan. 12.

In that win, freshman forward Cassandra Wiggins scored 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Renee Brubaker added 12 points. PCC downed Long Beach on Jan. 10 by a 53-50 count as Brubaker led the way with 19 points in that win.

Towns is expected back this week when PCC opens SCC North Division play with a 5:30 p.m. game at Mt. San Antonio Jan. 17. The Lancers also learned that they will receive a forfeit win over LA City for its Friday, Jan. 19 contest as the Lady Cubs have decided to discontinue play for the remainder of the season due to injuries and lack of enough roster players.