Richard Somdah hit 10-of-12 shots and poured in a career-best 27 points Wednesday night but SBCC still came up short in its men’s basketball finale, losing to Moorpark 77-75 in the Sports Pavilion.
The Vaqueros (13-19, 5-7 WSC North) fell behind by 11 at halftime, 44-33, before rallying back with 60.7 percent shooting in the second half. They trailed 73-65 with 2:15 to play before going on a 10-3 run to pull within one.
Mark Keeten drained a 3-pointer from the right corner and David Lane hit a pair of free throws and a driving layup to pull the home team within one, 76-75, with 16.8 seconds to go. A traveling call vs. the press gave the ball back to the Vaqueros but Keeten misfired on a drive and Brandon Greene couldn’t convert on a straightaway 16-footer.
After the Raiders made one of two free throws, SBCC in-bounded with 3.1 seconds left but Greene’s half-court attempt was well off the mark, sending the Vaqueros to their third straight loss.
“We really played hard and gave ourselves a chance,” said coach Morris Hodges. “There were some key points in the second half when we gave them too many second-shot opportunities.”
Somdah, a 6-3 freshman, had a double-double with 27 points and 11 rebounds. David Lance added 17 points and seven assists while Lucky Teeguarden had 11 points.
Justin Taylor led third-place Moorpark (17-10, 7-4) with 19 points.
The Vaqueros forced 16 second-half turnovers but only made 4-of-16 from 3-point range.
“We lost three conference games by one possession,” Hodges noted. “That’s been the difference in us being in the playoff picture or not.
“There were a lot of positives this season. We competed with everybody. We always battled and our effort was good. It was just a matter of breaking down and not executing at some critical times. Dave’s (David Lane’s) broken wrist at the beginning of the season had an impact because he missed the first seven games.”
Lane was the third-leading scorer in the WSC at 18.5 entering Wednesday night.
