PCC Men’s Basketball Opens ’14-15 Season In Youth Mode

Last season, the Pasadena City College men’s basketball team completed the program’s most successful campaign in seven years under head coach Michael Swanegan. The Lancers used veteran leadership and the play of graduated All-State forward Taj Spencer to win 21 games and reach the SoCal Playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons.

Only two players and one starter remain from that squad as PCC enters the 2014-15 season with 13 freshmen. The team showed some of that youth during the season-opening Ventura College We Play Hard Tournament November 6-8.

The Lancers went 1-2 overall and placed fourth in the 8-team tourney.

PCC opened the season with a 90-74 victory over Orange Coast College on November 6. The Lancers had big efforts from 6-foot-6 frosh forward Jaryn Taylor, who came off the bench to score 30 points and grab12 rebounds, and 6-5 guard Keith Langston, who also reached a double-double on 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Langston (Whitney Young High in Chicago) is part of an initial starting five that was made up of returning 6-7 sophomore Nigerian center Faruk Oyalade, 6-3 letterman guard Jonathan Henderson (a reserve last season out of Monrovia High), 6-foot rookie guard Derrin Jenkins (also Monrovia), and freshman 5-9 point guard Justin Fletcher (Carter High in Rialto). Taylor, from Yucaipa High, cracked the starting unit in game 2 as did 5-10 frosh point guard Andrew Harper (A.B. Miller HS in Fontana).

In the OCC win, Taylor made 14 of 21 shots from the floor. Langston was 2-for-2 on 3-point bombs and 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Henderson added 15 points while Fletcher scored six points and dished out eight assists. Jenkins had six points and four assists.

PCC next faced pre-season SoCal No. 1-ranked Antelope Valley and could not keep up with the Marauders in an 84-62 loss on November 7. AVC jumped out to a 39-26 halftime lead. Langston led the Lancers with 23 points, including three treys, and six rebounds. Henderson tallied 13 points and Oyalade had 10 points and nine rebounds. Langston finished the tourney with 68 points, a 22.7 average.

The Lancers then lost in the third place final as Palomar edged them, 73-68. PCC was tied as late as the final minute of the contest. Langston continued his outstanding play as he scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds while Henderson sank three 3-pointers (as did Langston) as part of his 21 points. Taylor totaled 10 points and five rebounds in reserve.

Filling out the PCC ’14-15 roster are eight more freshmen in 6-5 forward Jeremy Jean (Mt. Zion Christian Academy, North Carolina), 5-10 guard Demetrius Overstreet (San Bernardino High), 6-2 guard Charles Dixon-Brady III (Palmdale’s Highland High), 6-7 center Wilson Seremes (Renaisaance Academy in Altadena), 6-4 guard Todd Barnes (Pasadena High), 6-4 forward Christopher Johnson (Granada Hills HS), and from the Lancers football team–6-2 guard Dejon Williams (Muir High) and 6-6 forward Donell Tuff (Tift County HS, Georgia).

Tuff was an All-State player in his prep days who earned a basketball scholarship to NCAA Division I Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. Williams, a talented football player as a quarterback and defensive back, is explosive as a hoops player. He scored 44 points in a game v. Burroughs as a senior.

“We have potentially a very strong corps,” Swanegan said. “We have more height than last year, and we have probably more weapons on offense. We relied a lot last season on Spencer (now at Cal Baptist University) and guard Jeffrey Dockett. Those are two veteran guys who will be hard to replace. At Ventura, we looked like just what we are right now, a young team. Once everyone is acclimated to the college level, we can expect to get better.”