SANTA BARBARA – Looking for its third straight win Wednesday night at the Sports Pavilion, the SBCC men's basketball team struggled to secure the glass in a 91-71 defeat to Canyons
The Vaqueros are now 3-2 on the year while Canyons improves to 4-1.
Guard Wilfrid Nado led Santa Barbara with a season-high 16 points (4-9 FG), getting to the line with regularity (8-11 FT). Forward Tommy Condon was the only other Vaquero in double-figures, finishing with 10 points and an SBCC-high three steals.
While the shooting numbers were similar in the opening half, the Cougars enjoyed a huge rebound disparity. They had five more offensive rebounds (15) than SBCC had total rebounds (10), taking a 26-10 edge into halftime.
Santa Barbara outshot Canyons 42.3% to 36.1% over the first 20 minutes and had fewer turnovers (13 to 15). Despite going down by as many as 11 points on multiple occasions, the home side trailed by just six, 44-38 at the break.
Four straight Adam Weingard free throws made it a one-possession game at the 16:32 mark, 47-44. From there, it was all Cougars, as they embarked on a 26-12 run to take a 73-56 advantage and pull away for good. They shot just under 50 percent in the second half (14-29 FG), hitting 5-of-7 (71.4%) from three-point range.
The Vaqueros won the turnover battle (22 to 38), but a poor shooting night plagued them as their offense had its least efficient shooting night of the year. Canyons ended the day with a 58-31 rebounding advantage.
Weingard was the team's third-leading scorer with nine points. Forward Jon Pearson chipped in off the bench with seven points. Walker Grossi and Brycyn Gossett finished with six points apiece.
SBCC heads out to Santa Maria this Friday-Sunday for the Home Motors Tournament hosted by Allan Hancock College. The Vaqueros open their three-game slate against Fresno this Friday at 3:00 p.m.
Outrebounded 58-31
Won turnovers 22-28
Poor shooting night, 34.9% FG, 3-13 3FG (23.1%)
