Brian Peabody coached his 500th career victory in early December. He produced state championships at Green Fields Country Day School in 1991 and at Ironwood Ridge in 2008.
But the Sahuaro High School grad told me that Friday’s classic 102-99 victory over No. 1-ranked Phoenix College was “the sweetest victory of my career.”
The Aztecs, who averaged 101 points this year, thus won the NJCAA Region I, Division II championship and will play in the national finals beginning March 21 in Danville, Illinois.
PCC is 21-11. It plays in what many junior college insiders consider the most difficult league in NJCAA men’s hoops.
“People have no idea how hard the grind is,” said Peabody, whose top player, Empire High School grad Deion James, was selected the Region I, Division II championship game’s MVP a week after being the ACCAC co-player of the year. James scored 27 points and had 12 rebounds in Friday’s game.
A year ago, James was sitting on the end of the bench at a bad North Carolina A&T team. After the NJCAA finals, he will begin to sift through scholarship offers from Colorado State, Utah State, UNLV, Fresno State and others. Last week, UCLA assistant coach David Grace called the Pima coaching staff to get an update on James.
Peabody’s career victory total is now 513. That’s probably his new favorite number.
