Haven Ousley hit 5-of-9 on 3-pointers and scored a game-high 23 points on Saturday night to pace Cerro Coso to an 81-46 win over SBCC in the Vaqueros' home opener at the Sports Pavilion.
The Coyotes of Ridgecrest (2-1) outshot the Vaqueros 46.9 to 34.6% and took advantage of 26 SBCC turnovers that led to 27 points.
Cerro Coso led 23-18 with 8:15 to go in the first half, then ended the half on a 20-5 run to build a 20-point halftime advantage, 43-23.
Daniel Arzate, a former Dos Pueblos High standout, led the Vaqueros (0-3) with 11 points on perfect shooting (4-4 from the field and 3-3 on 3's). Adrian Juilland-Johnson added seven points, fve rebounds and four assists.
"We've got to play more defense and pressure the ball," said Arzate. "We're a young team and we need more experience."
SBCC took an early 8-2 lead on two 3's by Arzate. Then the Coyotes went on a 21-3 run and took a 23-11 lead on a 3-pointer by Jonathan Foster. The Vaqueros responded with a 7-0 burst to cut the deficit to five, capped by a triple from Joseph Holden and a driving layup by Arzate.
A couple of layups ignited the 20-5 run to end the half. Jordan Pumphrey tallied 11 of his 18 points during that spurt and hit a 3-pointer with 0:25 left to give the visitors a 43-23 lead at the break.
"There was a flurry of turnovers during their 20-5 run," said coach Morris Hodges. "We have to be more efficient with the basketball in our passing, catching and dribbling. It's early in the year and we're trying to figure out who we really are because our turnovers have been too high to give ourselves a really good chance to evaluate and contest some of our competition."
The Vaqueros have turned the ball over 21, 27 and 26 times in their three games.
"Our effort is good but they had 12 more shots than us [and only committed 11 turnovers]," Hodges noted. "We only have two sophomores (Holden and Kile Kleiner) and our guys are still getting acclimated to this level of play."
The Vaqueros will play in the Hancock Tournament next weekend, opening against Cypress on Friday at 3 p.m.
