After a tight battle for more than 35 minutes on Wednesday night, SBCC went cold over the final 4:27 and Hancock took advantage to post a 71-60 men’s basketball victory in the Sports Pavilion.
The Bulldogs (19-7, 6-3 WSC North) shot 48 percent in the second half and outscored the Vaqueros 10-0 in the last 4½ minutes. Scott Burrows led SBCC (4-20, 1-8) with 17 points and five rebounds.
“We had some critical turnovers during that stretch and we missed some shots,” said coach Morris Hodges. “We dropped one pass out-of-bounds when we were down 64-60 (with 1:38 to play).”
Alex DiManno had 12 points and eight assists for Santa Barbara. He nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:27 to go, pulling the Vaqueros within one at 61-60.
Taylor Pruett, a 6-8 sophomore, hit two free throws after Burrows was called for a flagrant-1 foul with 4:11 left. Andrew Douby canned 5-6 foul shots in the last 3:39 to secure the win. The Bulldogs made 18-of-27 free throws, including 13-16 in the final 20 minutes. The Vaqueros were 2-2 in the second half and 5-7 for the game.
Douby hit 6-8 from 3-point range and led all scorers with 26 points.
Jalani Davis had eight points and five boards for SBCC, which shot 40.7 percent for the game.
The Vaqueros led 32-31 at the half and stretched the margin to six points, 43-37, on a triple by Burrows from the right corner. Hancock answered with a 10-0 run and, although the score was tied five times in the next five minutes, the Vaqueros could never get the lead.
“It was like that all night,” said Hodges. “Our energy wasn’t there at the start and we were playing really sloppy. We were in a funk in the first half. We were never able to get over the hump in the second half.
“Jalani, Cam Nelson, Robert Cid and CJ Edwards all played well in the first half. They gave us energy and got us going.”
SBCC plays at Moorpark on Saturday at 7 p.m.
