Eric Becker tallied 12 points and deflected a pass with five seconds left Wednesday night to preserve SBCC’s 66-63 men’s basketball victory at Oxnard.
Tony Williams had 11 points and seven rebounds and Scott Burrows added 10 points and six boards for the Vaqueros (4-18, 1-6), who notched their first WSC North triumph of the year.
Alex DiManno had a season-high 10 assists and Jalani Davis contributed eight points. The Vaqueros extended a 31-30 halftime lead to 53-43 with 12 minutes to go. The Condors rallied within two points at 53-51 but couldn’t get any closer.
Santa Barbara shot 42 percent and only got to the free-throw line six times, making four. Oxnard (10-13, 3-6) shot 44 percent but missed 10 foul shots (5-of-15).
“Our guys played extremely hard and it was nice to finally see them rewarded,” said coach Morris Hodges. “They played well together and did a good job on defense.”
The Vaqueros went ahead 64-57 with 30 seconds left after a basket and free throw by DiManno. Trailing 66-60, the Condors hit a 3-pointer and SBCC turned it over with 0:05 on the clock. Becker, a 6-5 sophomore from Santa Ynez High, deflected the in-bound pass off an Oxnard player and out-of-bounds to secure the win.
The Vaqueros handed out 20 assists and forced 22 turnovers.
SBCC will host Ventura on Saturday at 7 p.m.
