Coming Off 2 Wins, Men's Basketball Hosts Skip Robinson Classic Nov. 14-16

Skip Robinson is expected to attend the PCC men's basketball tournament that is named after him this Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 14-16.
Skip Robinson is expected to attend the PCC men's basketball tournament that is named after him this Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 14-16.

Fresh off of rebounding from an 0-3 start to the 2019-20 season with two victories at the Los Angeles Valley Classic, the Pasadena City College men's basketball team will host the 3rd Skip Robinson Classic this Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 14-16 at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium. It will be the Lancers first home games on their refurbished home floor.

PCC (2-3) will run the 8-team tournament that features four games on each of the three days. The opening two days will have games at 1,3,5, and 7 p.m. and on the finals day the games will be at 10 a.m., 12, 2, and 4 p.m. On Thursday, the SRC opens with a 1 p.m. game between Santiago Canyon v. LA Southwest, then a 3 p.m. game featuring Mt. San Antonio v. Glendale. At 5 p.m., Pierce plays LA Trade Tech, and at 7 p.m. the Lancers will take on Barstow. 

https://pcclancers.com/sports/mbkb/skiprob19bracket.pdf

He was an assistant coach for the school's storied early 1970s teams that regularly went to bowl games and were regular season national champions in 1972 and 1974. Robinson later became PCC's first African-American head coach for any sport when he took over as men's track and field coach. He directed state championship teams in 1978 and 1984. Finally, he was the first African-American athletic director at the college in being named in 1995. He served that position until 2007 and retired after 42 years of service in from PCC in 2011.The tournament was named by PCC hoops coach Michael Swanegan after former PCC athletic director/dean Skip Robinson, who is a member of the PCC Sports Hall of Fame as an All-American defensive back from the Lancers 1966 Junior Rose Bowl team. Robinson's career at PCC continued as he was hired as the first African-American instructor/coach at the college in 1969.

https://pcclancers.com/hof/Skip_Robinson?view=bio

The Lancers picked up their first win of the season on Nov. 8 in a resounding 88-49 triumph over Imperial Valley. PCC led 35-14 by halftime. Coming off the bench, letterman guard Patric Panoosi sank 7-for-9 on 3-point baskets (9-for-12 on all field goals) to score 25 points. First-year forward Lafayette Sanders also came off the bench to score 18 points (made 8-for-10 from the floor) plus five rebounds and three steals. Starting frosh guard Anthony Gamboa tallied 11 points while reserve guard Rasheet Wilson scored 10 points.

Starting sophomore center Deandro Worrell added five points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while point guard London Benford (formerly Farmer) chipped in two points, five assists and made six steals. Another starter, point guard Dominick Erby, had six points and five assists and starting forward Jesse Watkins contributed seven points and five boards.

The team shot 50 percent overall from the field (33-for-66) and hit 10 of 23 from beyond the 3-point arc. 

On Nov. 9, the Lancers again made things look easy in another rout over Santa Barbara City College, 70-44. Gamboa led the way with 16 points and Panoosi drained four more treys as part of his 15 points. Frosh guard Gabriel Ajemian added 10 points and six rebounds. Wilson had six points, four rebounds, four assists and made four steals.