Freshmen guards Rico Failla and Pablo Miranda recorded season highs with 15 and 14 points, respectively, but SBCC was hurt by turnovers and offensive rebounds on Saturday night in an 87-74 men’s basketball loss at Bakersfield.
Trace Yager added 11 points and Anthony Petrilli had nine for the Vaqueros (2-4). Mike Hansen, SBCC’s top scorer, missed the non-conference game with an injury.
SBCC committed 21 turnovers and was outrebounded 42-27, including 19-6 at the offensive end.
“They got a lot of points off our turnovers in the first half,” said coach Morris Hodges. “Every time we made a run or got a stop in the second half, they would come up with a big offensive rebound.”
Logan Louks had eight points and five boards. Jalani Davis led the Vaqueros with six rebounds.
Santa Barbara ended the first half on a 13-4 run to shave the deficit to two points at 43-41. SBCC hit 20-of-40 field goals and outshot the home team 50 to 46.4 percent but took 29 less shots.
The Vaqueros nailed nearly 50 percent from 3-point country (10-21) while struggling from the free-throw line (24-39, 61.5 percent). Bakersfield (2-4) was 20-24 from the charity stripe.
SBCC pulled within three with 7:40 to go (68-65) before the Renegades went on a 7-0 run to boost the lead to 10 points. The Vaqueros didn’t get closer than six the rest of the way.
The Vaqueros will host the 40th annual SBCC Classic on Thursday through Saturday. They open vs. Cypress on Thursday at 7 p.m.
