SBCC shaved a 16-point deficit to eight with 7:21 to play Saturday night before falling to first-place Cuesta 92-76 in its final men’s basketball game at the Sports Pavilion.
Seth Koenig hit 18-of-22 shots and paced the 18th-ranked Cougars (25-5, 11-1) with 37 points and 10 rebounds. Daniel Koches scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Vaqueros (8-18, 4-8 WSC North), who had their three-game win streak snapped.
Willie Reese, coming off a career-high 26-point game, had 12 points (on 5-6 shooting) and nine rebounds for Santa Barbara, which trailed 47-41 at intermission. Lucky Teeguarden collected 11 points and five rebounds — all in the first half — before picking up his fourth foul with 14 minutes to play.
David Lane, one of six sophomores playing their final game for SBCC, had eight points and eight assists.
“Even though we stayed with them in the first half, they beat us back in transition a number of times and got probably 10 baskets,” said coach Morris Hodges, after completing his 20th season. “When we got it down to eight in the second half, we had about four straight empty trips.
“They really executed and shot the ball well. That’s why they’re the conference champs.”
Cuesta outshot the Vaqueros 55.4 to 43.3 percent.
The Cougars enjoyed their biggest lead at 66-50 with 13:25 to play. SBCC pulled within eight, 71-63, on a follow shot by Reese and a free throw from Koches at the 7:21 mark. But the visitors regained control with an 11-4 run that made it 82-67 with 2:04 to play.
“We played better in the last two weeks,” said Hodges. “I think we lost eight games this season by two possessions. Of those eight, three were one-possession games. We had a stretch where we couldn’t win the close ones and we were a little snakebitten.
“But our guys were pretty resilient and we righted the ship by winning three in a row. We played hard tonight but we would have had to execute a lot better to beat them.”
