OXNARD – The SBCC men's basketball team ended one of its most successful seasons in years on a high note, setting a season-high with 62 second half points to pull away and defeat Oxnard 92-83 in its 2022-23 finale Friday.
Santa Barbara finished with an 11-17 overall and 6-6 WSC record, the latter tying for the program's most conference wins since 1997-98.
After leading 30-28 going into halftime, SBCC's huge second half was spurred on by forward Tyler Williams putting in 17 of his 21 points over the final 20 minutes. The freshman went 8-of-9 from the field and 2-for-3 on threes, marking his second 20-point game of the year in which he shot over 88 percenet from the field.
Forward Aidan Mandel put in a team-high 22 points (8/17 FG) and closed the year with his fifth 20-point game in six tries, giving him a team-leading 16 for the year. He concludes a spectacular freshman campaign which saw him average team-highs in points (18.9), rebounds (9.2), steals (1.5) and blocks (1.4). It was the highest scoring average of any Vaquero since Robert Hutchins (20.7) in 2016-17.
A late 7-0 first half run by the Condors (6-19, 2-10) saw them take a three point lead late, they continued pushing early in the second half to try and take control of the game. Mandel and Williams combined for 15 straight SBCC points to stave them off.
The Vaqueros hit jumpers on three straight possessions, including a triple from Truman Teuber to give the visitors their largest lead 55-45 midway through the second half. Oxnard couldn't pull within five points the rest of the way, as SBCC shot 58.8 percent from the field, 71.4 from outside and knocked down 17-of-22 (.773) from the line in the second stanza. It was the Vaqueros' first 60-point half of the year.
Sophomore guards Wilfrid Nado (14 points) and Elijah Simpson (11) both reached double-figures as well. Nado also had four steals and knocked down 9-of-10 from the charity stripe.
SBCC's offense was locked in for the final stretch of the season, shooting 52.5 percent or better in three of its last four contests. The Vaqueros had one such game prior to that.
