Richard Somdah scored 21 points for the second straight day on Saturday but SBCC couldn’t overcome poor free-throw shooting in an 84-81 men’s basketball loss to L.A. Valley at the Southwestern Tournament in Chula Vista.
Chris Vines added 18 points and Steven Saenz had 14 for the Vaqueros (1-3). Santa Barbara made just 50 percent of its free throws (13-26) in the third-place game.
After leading 46-41 at the half, the Vaqueros were up by eight with 14:30 to go before Valley rallied to tie the game at 59 with a 10-2 run. SBCC cut a nine-point deficit to two (83-81) with 19 seconds left. After a Valley free throw, Malik Bradley missed a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Bradley had five assists and four rebounds for SBCC, which shot 39.1 percent and drained 14-of-36 from 3-point land.
Santa Barbara returns to action on Friday against Fullerton at 1 p.m. in the Oxnard Tournament.
