Rico Failla poured in a season-high 29 points on Wednesday but SBCC still came up short, 87-83, in a WSC North men’s basketball game at Cuesta.
Failla made 8-of-18 from the field, 4-11 on 3-pointers and 9-10 free throws for the Vaqueros (4-16, 0-8), who stormed back after falling behind 17-4 at the outset. Failla has scored 50 points in his last two games.
Cuesta (17-12, 4-4) led 41-37 at halftime.
Michael Hansen scored 15 for the Vaqueros and Trace Yager scored 13, thanks to a perfect 3-3 on 3-pointers. Logan Louks added 10 points and four assists.
The Vaqueros were outshot 49.3 to 42.2 percent and lost the rebound battle 44-32. They hit 12-29 from long range compared to 9-25 for the Cougars.
SBCC trailed by as many as 10 in the second half before rallying back. They took an 81-80 lead on three free throws by Failla with 2:30 to play.
“We did a nice job of fighting back,” said coach Morris Hodges. “Cameron Nelson and Anthony Petrilli gave us good energy off the bench.”
Failla hit two free throws to tie the core at 83 but Cuesta made two of its own from the charity stripe to regain a two-point advantage. SBCC turned the ball over with 14 seconds left and Cuesta sealed it by making both ends of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity with 2.4 seconds left.
SBCC hosts L.A. Pierce in its final home game on Saturday at 5 p.m.
