Downtown is a great place to shop for the Christmas season and it wasn’t a bad spot for the SBCC men’s basketball team either in Thursday’s opening round of the 36th annuual SBCC Classic.
The Vaqueros outscored Cañada of Redwood City 30-3 from beyond the 3-point arc en route to a 64-45 victory at the Sports Pavilion. Sophomore Brandon Greene hit 3-of-5 from downtown and scored a game-high 13 points.
“We haven’t played two good halves all year, so when you finally put two together, it feels real good,” said Greene. “I’ve been a little off this year but I started to feel it today.”
After falling behind 9-2, the Vaqueros (5-9) took the lead for good with a 15-4 run. Greene hit back-to-back treys to make it 17-13 and David Lane scored all 12 of his points in the first half, staking SBCC to a 36-23 advantage.
The Vaqueros extended the lead to 48-29 on a 3-pointer and follow shot by Greene and led by 26 (62-36) when Ezra Fantl nailed a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 7:02 to play.
SBCC, which has reached the Classic final the last two years, will take on Grossmont at 7 p.m. tonight. The Griffins (2-7) opened with a 65-59 win over Cypress. Oxnard advanced to the 9 p.m. semifinal with a 73-65 triumph over Victor Valley and will take on L.A. Valley, a 67-61 winner over Hancock. Victor Valley will battle Hancock (3-9) in the consolation semifinals on Friday at 3 p.m., followed by Cypress and Canada at 5 p.m.
The Vaqueros held the Colts (2-8) to 39.5 percent shooting, including just 1-8 from 3-point land, and the 45 points were the least allowed in several years.
Lane and Lucky Teeguarden added 12 points apiece for SBCC and Mark Keeten chipped in with eight points and four assists. Lane, Keeten and Bo Rodriguez had three steals each.
“Our pressure eventually took its toll on them,” said coach Morris Hodges, referring to 24 Cañada turnovers. “We’ve been trying to extend our pressure to create more turnovers and pick up the tempo.
“Brandon started playing well last weekend up at Monterey. He’s been more consistent and really playing well on the defensive end.”
Hodges said Grossmont will be a tough assignment.
“They have real good inside post presence and pretty quick guards on the perimeter,” he noted. “They run a lot of good offensive sets, so we have to be very disciplined defensively, particularly in the halfcourt.”
36th annual SBCC Classic
Thursday
First round
3 p.m. — Grossmont 65, Cypress 59
5 p.m. — Oxnard 73, Victor Valley 65
7 p.m. — SBCC 64, Cañada 45
9 p.m. — L.A. Valley 67, Hancock 61
Friday
Consolation semifinals
3 p.m. — Victor Valley (6-4) vs. Hancock (3-9)
5 p.m. — Cypress (5-6) vs. Cañada (2-8)
Championship semifinals
7 p.m. — SBCC (5-9) vs. Grossmont (2-7)
9 p.m. — Oxnard (4-6) vs. L.A. Valley (7-3)
