David Lane poured in 25 points, dished out eight assists and took over the game in the final 3:16 Saturday night, leading SBCC to a thrilling 80-78 men’s basketball victory over first-place Cuesta at the Sports Pavilion.
Tom Schumacher, who led Cuesta with 23 points, hit a 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds remaining, cutting the deficit to two. After Brandon Greene missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for the Vaqueros, Schumacher tossed up a running 3-pointer that rolled around the rim, off the backboard and out.
“I know Cuesta’s a great team and they finish well,” said Lane, a 6-1 freshman from Akron, Ohio. “I knew I had to speed up the tempo a little, get some other people involved and also get some shots myself.”
Richard Somdah added 15 points while Daniel Koches contributed 12 on 4-of-5 shooting from long distance for the Vaqueros (13-16, 5-4 WSC North), who beat the Cougars for the second time in three meetings this season.
Robbie McDaniel hit 9-of-16 from the free-throw line and added 15 for Cuesta (21-10, 6-3), which is ranked No. 13 in Southern Cal. SBCC won despite getting outscored 24-5 from the charity stripe and outrebounded 42-31.
SBCC played without its second-leading scorer, Mark Keeten, who missed the contest for family reasons and Cuesta didn’t have its top scorer, Joe Ayarza (ankle injury).
After leading for most of the game, SBCC went up 70-65 on driving layup by Lane. Somdah, a 6-3 forward who plays a lot bigger, picked up two fouls in a 27-second span and fouled out with 3:16 to play.
Cuesta cut the deficit to one, 70-69, on two free throws after Somdah’s fifth foul.
Joshua Alce replaced Somdah and turned in three spectacular plays, hitting a turnaround bank shot, layin on a lob from Lane and then slamming home another lob from Lane to make it 79-72 with 1:04 to play.
“Josh is a strong player,” said Lane. “He stepped it up tonight and he was ready to play.”
Koches made more 3-pointers in 22 minutes than he had all season.
“The important thing is we found a way to win,” said Vaquero coach Morris Hodges. “Daniel Koches was big for us. In the first half, we fouled too much (making only 1-of-6 while Cuesta to hit 16-21). We overcame a lot of things, including foul trouble.”
Somdah and Lucky Teeguarden (8 points) both fouled out while three other Vaqueros had four fouls.
Lane made a follow shot and converted a free throw at the 1:55 mark, giving the home team a 75-69 edge.
“He was able to create some things off penetration,” said Hodges. “And Richard was real solid until he fouled out. He had a couple of questionable fouls, in my opinion.
“Josh Alce was huge. He hits the turnaround jumper right off the bench, then in transition, he finishes that pass from Dave. Those are two clutch plays for a guy who had been sitting for a long time.”
SBCC still has a shot at the postseason, if it can win its last three games at L.A. Pierce, at Ventura and Feb. 18 at home against Moorpark.
“If we win our last three, we’d have to be considered,” said Hodges. “Cuesta is ranked No. 13 in Southern Cal and Ventura is No. 11. That would give us two quality wins and we’d be at .500 for the season. Plus, we had some good preseason wins over ranked teams in the north and a couple of quality losses to strong teams (like No. 1-ranked Fresno City in overtime and No. 3 San Diego City).
“But we have to do a better job of rebounding and limit our fouls.”
