The 2017-18 Porterville College Men's Basketball season got off to a rocky start as the Pirates opened up the San Jose City College Tip Off tournament on Thursday with a 101-94 loss to Monterey Peninsula College and followed that up with a narrow 79-73 defeat by Merced College on Friday.

Freshman Damoni Jones was impressive in his first games as a Pirate, averaging 16 points over the two contests.

Porterville will look to secure win No. 1 when the Pirates return to action on Thursday (Nov. 9) at the Victor Valley Memorial Classic in Victorville. PC faces Barstow College to begin play and is scheduled to face host Victor Valley on Saturday (Nov. 10).

Monterey Peninsula 101, Porterville 94
Jones had a big game in his debut, leading all with 21 points. PC trailed by just three points (46-43) at halftime but couldn't overcome the Monterey Peninsula lead.

Porterville also got solid scoring efforts from Tevin Howell (16 points), Elijah Cardenas (16 points), and Malik McCowan (15 points). But the Pirates were outrebounded by a 44-27 margin and committed 22 turnovers.

Merced 79, Porterville 73
Brandon Thomas and Germaine Caldwell both scored 14 points each to lead PC in Friday's loss to conference foe Merced. The duo was also busy underneath as Thomas added seven rebounds and three blocks while Caldwell posted four boards and three assists.

Howell continued his double-digit scoring with 12 points while Jones and Carlos Angel both chipped in with 11 points.

PC did a much better job on the glass as the Pirates totaled 47 rebounds.