Bakersfield wears down Vaqueros, 89-65

Bakersfield dominated the backboards on Tuesday night and pulled away in the last 11 minutes of an 89-65 men's basketball win over SBCC in the Sports Pavilion.

The Renegades (3-3) won the board battle 53-32, including a 25-7 advantage on offensive rebounds. That led to a large disparity in shot attempts with Bakersfield getting off 78 and the Vaqueros 53.

Tucker Eenigenburg paced the Renegades with 22 points with seven rebounds. Jaylunn English, a 6-8 sophomore, had 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

Dejon Jackson, a 6-6 freshman from Oxnard, topped the Vaqueros (0-4) with 20 points and 10 rebounds. He hit 8-of-15 from the field. Guard Drayten Howell added 16 points and five assists while Francisco Gutierrez had 14 points.

"It was a good game for Drayten, his floor leadership was better," said SBCC coach Morris Hodges. "He has some explosiveness and quickness. The key is he needs to continue to improve his decision-making to really elevate his game."

Leading 52-49 with 11:23 to go, the visitors took control with a 22-7 burst that led to a 74-56 advantage with 4:35 remaining.

"This game was decided on the offensive boards," said Hodges. "They had 25 offensive rebounds and we have to respond better. Our technique wasn't solid and we had some guys out. They had better size but we didn't use our technique to get them away from the bucket.

"We also had too many turnovers and they got 26 points off our turnovers."

The Vaqueros committed 21 turnovers and only forced 12.

Aaron Mejia hit a trio of 3-pointers on his first three shots as the Vaqueros jumped out to leads of 9-2 and 16-8. The visitors used a 12-2 run and took their first lead, 20-18 on two free throws by Jamar Hammonds with 8:35 to go in the first half.

"We got off to a great start and we were playing good defense," Hodges noted. "Then they went on a few runs in the second half and we weren't not effective on the offensive end."

The lead fluctuated between two and five points until English hit a 10-footer in the lane for a nine-point advantage (36-27) with two minutes to go. Jackson followed his own missed shot with a bucket and Howell hit a buzzer-beating triple to pull the Vaqueros within four at the half, 38-34.

Howell tallied 10 points in the first half and the Vaqueros hit 50 percent of their shots (14-28). The second half was a different story as the Renegades hit 48.8 percent from the field and the Vaqueros dropped to 36 percent.

"I thought our energy was good and we have some correctable things," Hodges added. "We still have a couple guys who are out (6-9 Austin Lind and 6-6 Donald Grant) and we're hoping to get them back on Friday."

The Vaqueros open play in the Hancock Home Motors Tournament on Friday against Napa Valley at 7 p.m.