Canyons built an 18-4 lead in the first eight minutes on Saturday night and went on to beat SBCC 68-57 in the Vaqueros’ first WSC North men’s basketball game of the season.
Prince Arceneaux, a 6-5 freshman from Los Angeles, was the only Vaquero in double figures. He scored a season-high 24 points on 8-14 shooting, including 4-6 from 3-point land. Arceneaux led the Vaqueros (1-11, 0-1) in rebounds with six. Clark Stokes tallied eight points off the bench.
Zach Davis had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead a balanced attack for Canyons (8-7, 2-0). Dalibor Nonkovic added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cougars outshot the Vaqueros 53.3 to 34 percent.
“Shooting has been our Achilles heel,” said coach Morris Hodges. “We haven’t been to get consistent scoring from several guys. When you’re struggling to score, it puts more pressure on you defensively.
“I thought the key part of the game was early in the first half when they extended a little token pressure and we started taking quick shots. That fueled some runout opportunities for them.”
Santa Barbara got within 10 on a four-point play by Arceneaux, who scored 16 first-half points, that made it 21-11. Canyons responded with an 11-6 burst that stretched its lead to 15 at 32-17.
The visiting Cougars led 34-24 at intermission.
SBCC shaved the deficit to five points at 44-39 when Tanner Stuhr scored a layup between three defenders. Canyons went on a 12-5 run and took a 12-point lead (56-44) on a layup by Zach Davis with 6:10 remaining.
The Vaqueros will travel to Moorpark (Wednesday) and Cuesta (Saturday) this week for a pair of 7 p.m. games.
