When the ball caromed to Chris Vines with the game on the line Saturday night, he knew exactly what to do.
After missing a driving bank shot from the right side with seconds to play, Vines found an open spot to the left of the basket. The rebound went off another player and into his hands. Vines scored from point-blank range with 0.5 seconds left to cap a stirring comeback that gave SBCC a 61-60 men’s basketball victory over Ventura in the Sports Pavilion.
The Vaqueros (6-12, 2-1 WSC North) rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit and took a 57-51 lead with eight minutes to play. They used a swarming full-court press to force turnovers that led to a 13-0 run, which ended with two straight baskets by Josh Guild and a pair of free throws by Malik Bradley.
Ventura (14-7, 2-2) committed 16 of its 25 turnovers in the second half when the Vaqueros outscored them 30-19.
“When my first shot didn’t go, I just followed the shot like I always do,” said Vines, a 6-3 sophomore from San Marcos High who racked up 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. “We want to protect our house, this is our home floor. We really came through as a team.”
Richard Somdah hit 7-of-14 shots and scored a team-high 15 points. Steven Saenz tallied all 11 of his points in the first half when he was a perfect 3-3 from long range.
SBCC was down 60-59 with 13.3 seconds to go and Ventura had the ball at midcourt. Charles Silver, who had just entered the game for the first time in the second half, stole the in-bound pass and the home team called timeout with 11.9 ticks left.
The Vaqueros fell behind 20-7 and trailed 35-20 with 4:48 to go in the first half. The Pirates hit 55 percent while building a 41-31 halftime lead.
SBCC had only 11 turnovers and won despite being outshot (48.9 to 41.7 percent) and outrebounded 41-22. Mike Melonas, the Pirates’ 6-7 center, had 19 rebounds and three blocks.
“We were rushing things in the first half and we just needed to slow ourselves down,” said SBCC coach Morris Hodges. “We changed up our pressure and they really got stymied.”
The Vaqueros play two road games next week at Oxnard (Wednesday) and Hancock (Saturday).
