By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Men's Basketball team lost to Ventura at home Saturday night, 50-41.
The low-scoring affair began with SBCC leading 11-8 midway through the first half. Over an 8-minute span that followed, Ventura went on a 10-0 run to take an 18-11 lead. The half ended with Ventura leading 20-16.
Out of halftime, Ventura's lead grew to 34-20 with 13 minutes remaining. Ethan Boness then hit back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to 8. Nick Tjaden and Boness then made a couple threes a few minutes apart, and the Vaqueros were only down 6—40-34—with now 3 minutes remaining.
However, SBCC could never quite break through while Ventura's offense steadily kept their lead. Tyler Williams hit a three with 2 minutes left, bringing the score to 44-39. Ventura hit one of two free throws, and Williams made a layup to bring the Vaqueros within 4—45-41 with 1:23 remaining.
The Vaqueros got a defensive rebound on Ventura's ensuing possession, but a missed three towards the end of the shot clock stifled their comeback hopes. With the Vaqueros forced to foul, Ventura made their free throws to a 50-41 final.
Tyler Williams played extremely well, tallying a double-double with team leads in points (13), rebounds (10), and assists (5). Ethan Boness had 12 points and William Pace scored 11.
Neither team shot particularly well, with Ventura 43% from the field yet just 12% (2 for 17) from three. The Vaqueros shot 33% overall and 30% from three. Despite the low scoring, each team took care of the ball well with just 11 turnovers apiece.
The Vaqueros have 2 more games to close out the regular season, away at Hancock Wednesday night before a final home game Friday at 5:00 PM against Oxnard.
