First-place Bulldogs too much for Vaqueros, 68-56

Shane Carney scored a game-high 22 points on Saturday night on 7-11 shooting to lead Hancock to a 68-56 men's basketball win over SBCC at Joe White Memorial Gym in Santa Maria.

Carney hit 5-of-8 from 3-point country and the Bulldogs were 7-21. They outshot Santa Barbara 43.4 to 38.9% and the Vaqueros made just 2-10 from downtown. Spirit Ricks had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Hancock (20-8, 7-1), which won its seventh straight to stay tied atop the WSC North with Ventura.

Ryan Smith led the Vaqueros (1-20, 0-8) with a season-high 14 points and seven rebounds. Donald Grant had 12 points and six boards. Former Lompoc High star Drayten Howell had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Hancock jumped ahead 9-2 and 25-12 in the first 12 minutes. Carney hit a triple to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of 17 points (37-20) with 4:14 to go in the first half. The Vaqueros scored seven straight points to pull within seven, 37-27, at the half.

SBCC tossed in five straight to open the second half, cutting the margin to five points (37-32) on a 3-pointer by Jerard O'Byrne with 18:28 to play. Santa Barbara shaved the deficit to three, 52-49, on a layup by Aaron Mejia with 8:12 remaining.

SBCC will host Moorpark in its final home game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.