PC men don’t quite know way at San Jose

The Porterville College men’s basketball team went face to face against the San Jose City College Jaguars on Thursday in San Jose.

The Pirates led the game for a long while but at the end of the game they were overtaken by the Jaguars and lost the game 61-54. The Pirates now have a 1-2 overall record to start the year off before taking a part in the Milt Stowe Classic against the Desert Roadrunners at 7 p.m. Friday in their home opener.

The Pirates had plenty of pep in their step against San Jose as starting forward Jalen Foy from Las Vegas made the block on the Jaguars shot and then with a rebound he’d pass it off to Cameron Walker. The Pirates Walker took the ball down the court past two San Jose defenders before being cornered.

Walker thought fast and threw it to Kiya Mcqueen. Mcqueen ran to the side but was caught again by the Jaguars and was forced to throw it to Foy. Foy made a move and faked the Jaguars before throwing the ball to Walker for a shot. Walker had a clear aim and landed the first field goal for the Panthers and of the game.

Mcqueen had a rebound from the Jaguars after that and he hit his shot to give PC a 4-3 lead. Mcqueen was on fire as he then again got a rebound and three pointer, giving PC a 7-3 lead. The Jaguars were no slouches though and landed a three pointer themselves, keeping the Pirates on their toes.

The Pirates continued their battle against the Jaguars with some fierce determination and defense. Jake Abrams and Demir Conliffe kept multiple Jaguars from scoring shots on the Pirates basket. A foul by the Pirates led to a Jaguar free throw that tied the game 9-9.

Julio Phipps for the Pirates had two free throws, slipping the ball into the net as his free throws earned the Pirates the lead again, 13-11. The Jaguars were taking every moment to pressure the Pirates. Phipps had the next shot and with the help of Justin Sabater, Phipps landed his layup in the Jaguars basket. Now leading 15-11 the Pirates continued their run with fast play from Foy and Assad Madassalia, who nailed a well placed jump shot.

Madassalia had his name on the ball as he made multiple more influential plays through the game. Madassalia followed up with an offensive rebound after Phipps missed the basket by just a hair. Madassalia made the layup and the lead was 19-11.

As the first half continued the Jaguars had their fair share of smart plays and narrowed the Pirates lead down to a single basket. But the first half ended with the Pirates in the lead 30-24.

After halftime the Pirates played well but the Jaguars had multiple rebounds they converted into solid layups, nar

rowing the Pirates lead to 32-30. Multiple fouls for both teams started to be called with the free throws making the game even tighter.

After a three pointer by the Jaguars the Pirates had to play some hard defense and fouled the Jaguars for two free throws. The Jaguars hit one and missed the second, putting the game at a narrow 40-39.

The Panthers looked to be having a hard time securing any shots as the Jaguars defense stayed strong through their whole second half. Again some more fouls for the Pirates let the Jaguars take free throws which they used to take the lead.

With three minutes remaining in the game the Pirates were down by just one point. The game was 53-52 and the Pirates had to call a timeout, trying to stop the Jaguar offense and keeping themselves sharp against the next play.

The Pirates final points came from Walker as he took two free throw shots after a foul by the Jaguars. Walker steadied his aim and landed the first and second shots putting the Pirates within two points of the Jaguars 56-54.

The Jaguars could smell victory though and held their lead for as long as they could with slow plays and running the shot clock down. It only took two fouls by the Pirates and a fast shot from the Jaguars to put the game outside of the Pirates reach. With eight seconds to go the Jaguars scored their last free throw and the buzzer rang shortly after ending the game 61-54.