Vaquero rally falls short vs. Hartnell, 72-67

SBCC erased most of a 13-point deficit and got within four points against Hartnell on Friday before the Panthers pulled out a 72-67 victory in a consolation semifinal of the Monterey Bay Classic.

The Vaqueros (0-8) trailed 32-21 at halftime and fell behind by 13 (43-30) with 15:34 to play. They rallied to within four points on a basket by Matthew Morris that made it 68-64 with 1:46 remaining.

Hartnell (4-7) got two free throws from Daniel Bost with 12.3 to play, stretching the lead to five.

A big difference was the 3-point shooting as Hartnell outscored the Vaqueros 33-9 from long distance, making 11-20 triples compared to 3-20 for SBCC.

Both teams enjoyed balanced scoring with four SBCC players between 10 and 16 points and five Hartnell players between 10 and 14.

Kile Kleiner scored 12 in the second half and topped the Vaqueros with 16 points in 19 minutes off the bench. Matthew Morris had a double-double with season highs in points (15) and rebounds (12). Adrian Juilland-Johnson racked up 10 of his 12 points in the second half when the Vaqueros outscored the Panthers 45-40. Brycyn Gossett added 10 points for Santa Barbara and Daniel Arzate contributed six points, a season-best eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Brenden Cannon led the Panthers, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the second half when he knocked down three 3-pointers. Cisco Narewski also had 14 points.

The Vaqueros will take on Gavilan in the seventh-place game on Saturday at 11 a.m.