Alonzo McCain scored all of his career-high 20 points in the second half on Thursday night as SBCC rallied for a dramatic 63-61 men’s basketball win over San Diego Miramar in the first round of the 42nd annual SBCC Classic.
Sean Keyes added 15 points and Ty Cleland had 11 for the Vaqueros (3-4), who won their third straight and improved to 3-0 at home.
McCain, a 5-10 sophomore guard from San Bernardino, was 7-7 in the second half and hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers. The second one tied the game at 59 with three minutes to go in overtime. He snapped that tie with a driving layup on the left side. After Marcus McMorris answered with a drive and basket of his own at the 31-second mark, McCain nailed the game-winner with a driving layup with 8.5 seconds left.
It was a career high in points for McCain, whose previous high this year was three. He scored 19 in his second collegiate game for Santa Barbara, back on Nov. 19, 2013.
Thomas Walker, who picked up his fourth foul on a technical early in the second half, blocked a floater by McMorris OB with 2.6 on the clock. Drew Peterson tried a 3 from the left corner but it missed the mark, touching off a big celebration by the Vaqueros.
SBCC fell behind by 10 on several occasions in the second half and trailed by 9 (49-40) with 6:16 to play. The Vaqueros were still down by eight with 3:23 to go, then McCain drilled a 3-pointer to ignite a 13-4 run. Santa Barbara took its first lead of the second half at 56-55 with 35 seconds left on a triple from the left baseline by Keyes and a 16-foot pull-up by Keyes.
Jonathan Montez was called for a foul after grabbing a loose ball with 12.4 seconds left and McMorris hit the second of two free throws to send it into overtime. McMorris led Miramar (4-5) with 17 points.
In other first-round games, L.A. Valley knocked off Cypress 76-68 and Victor Valley edged Irvine Valley 63-60. Hancock and Pasadena are playing the late game, which started at 9:30 p.m.
The Vaqueros will take on L.A. Valley in a championship semifinal on Friday at 7 p.m.
