Josh Varney scored a putback with 8.6 seconds left on Saturday night, lifting Hancock to a 49-48 men’s basketball victory over SBCC in the Sports Pavilion.
With 17 seconds left, Prince Arceneaux put the Vaqueros in prime position to post their first WSC North win by rolling in an off-balance 8-foot runner.
Varney, a 6-7 sophomore, had a game-high 18 points and seven rebounds, including five offensive, for the Bulldogs (12-10, 3-2). Arceneaux topped the Vaqueros (1-15, 0-5) with 16 points and seven rebounds.
SBCC outshot the visitors 42.2 to 39 percent in a sloppy game that featured 26 turnovers by each team. The Vaqueros won the rebound battle 30-25 but were outscored by 12 at the free-throw line. Hancock made 15-21 and the home team was just 3-4.
CJ Edwards had a big game for the Vaqueros, knocking down four 3-pointers in the first 11 minutes. Pablo Miranda drained a buzzer-beating triple to give SBCC a 31-28 halftime lead.
Edwards went on to make 5-9 from downtown and tallied a season-high 15 points.
“My teammates and coaches have been telling me to shoot the ball,” said Edwards, a 6-0 sophomore from Pasadena. “I shoot it well in practice but sometimes I second-guess myself in the game. Today, I just let ‘em go and they were falling. That was a good feeling.”
The Vaqueros scored nine unanswered points in the second half, capped by a 3-pointer from Edwards and a 14-footer by Sam Kelley that gave them a 44-38 lead with 8:11 to play.
“The biggest thing that affected us was our turnovers,” said coach Morris Hodges. “That limited our shot attempts, particularly in the second half. And a lot of those were unforced turnovers.”
After Varney’s go-ahead bucket, Santa Barbara called timeout with 8.6 seconds on the clock. Miranda’s crosscourt pass was intercepted by Hancock’s Isaiah Hicks with two seconds left, preserving the win for the Bulldogs.
SBCC travels to L.A. Pierce on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game.
