They must have gotten too comfortable.
After leading by as much as 12, the Vaquero Men’s basketball team gave up the lead, and eventually the game in Wednesday night’s 81-75 overtime loss to L.A. Pierce.
SBCC's David Lane tries to get a shot off with L.A. Pierce's Daniel St. Hubert in his face.
And if there’s one person to blame it on, blame it on Brahma guard Josh Thomas.
Thomas got LA Pierce (6-9) within one, tied the game on a layup with 5.7 seconds left in regulation, and eventually gave the Brahmas the lead in overtime.
Thomas was the game’s top scorer finishing with 26 points.
“We lost our energy,” Vaquero guard Myron Jackson said. “We just have to learn how to close our games.”
Jackson finished with 12 points, all in the second half and overtime.
The Vaqs (4-12, 0-2) came out dominant, and led by as much as eight before the half. The Vaqs pushed the lead to 12 on an NBA range trey from Sergio Ortiz. After that, the Brahmas went on a 20-10 run.
Pierce head coach Ed Babayan credits the come-from-behind win to the improved rebounding and defensive effort in the second half.
“It was a point of emphasis at halftime,” Babayan said of the Brahma’s dominant second-half rebounding.
“Our inability to rebound the basketball was our biggest problem,” Vaquero head coach Morris Hodges said. “And we had some offensive opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on,” Hodges added.
The loss is the sixth straight for the Vaqueros. David Lane, one of the conference’s top scorers, was held to nine points.
Guard Lucky Teeguarden led the Vaqs with 13 points.
The Vaqs will travel to Ventura to play the Pirates at 7 p.m. this Saturday. L.A. Pierce will hit the road to play El Camino at 7:30 p.m. this Friday.
