YUMA, Ariz. – The Arizona Western College Matadors Men's Basketball team (18-7, 11-4) pushed its winning streak to four games with an 80-70 win over Cochise (14-10, 7-6) on Friday night at Apaches Stronghold Gymnasium.

AJ Marmolejos led all scorers with 22 points while grabbing six rebounds and leading the team with five assists.

The Matadors scored the first five points of the game before Cochise made a run to eventually take a 15-13 lead. Cam Atkinson gave the Matadors the lead back at 23-21 with a floater and Arizona Western extended the margin to five points at 32-27 on a Jannoy Thomas jumper. Cochise used a 7-0 run to take a 34-32 lead before the Matadors grabbed a basket before the half to tie the game at 34-34.

Atkinson was the Matadors' second-leading scorer, scoring 21 points with 15 of them coming in the second half.

Arizona Western used a big run to open the second half, scoring 20 of the first 26 points in the second to take a 54-40 lead on a Marmolejos three-pointer. After Cochise cut the Matadors' lead back to eight points, Atkinspon hit a three to put the Matadors up double digits at 61-50 and pushed the lead out to 66-52. The Apaches made a late run and got to within six points at 75-69 before Joao Das Chagas put the Matadors back up eight points with a dunk as the Matadors held on for the win.

Thomas was the Matadors' third-leading scorer, finishing the game with 19 points and Edwin Suarez led the team in rebounding with 10.

The Matadors are back in action on Saturday, February 10, taking on Cochise once again at 4:00 pm at Apache Stronghold Gymnasium.