SANTA BARBARA, CA – On day two of the SBCC Classic, the Vaquero men's basketball team came just one bucket short of completing a 14-point second half deficit, eventually falling to Bakersfield 74-68.
After having its two-game win streak snapped, Santa Barbara (3-9) will now face LA Valley on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at the Sports Pavilion.
The Vaqueros got another huge game out of freshman forward Aidan Mandel, who set a season-high in points for the second straight game with 25 and 11 rebounds. He was a force on the defensive end as well, using his length to protect the rim while blocking five shots.
Mandel hit a baseline fadeaway on the first play of the game. Soon after, the Vaqueros would go five minutes without a bucket whlie Bakersfield (5-4) went on a 9-0 run to go up 13-6. Late in the half, Jaelen Bates hit a smooth turnaround jumper from 15 feet and Trevor Lee hit a sweet reverse pivot, reverse layup on the baseline to make it a 22-20 game in favor of the Renegades. SBCC went into half trailing 32-26 after failing to hit a three on seven attempts.
Bakersfield was the better team to start the second half, extending to a 12-point lead on multiple occasions. Anytime the Vaqueros looked like they were about to go on a run, the Renegades had an answer, as they pushed the lead to 14 points on a layup by Rahmel Davis. Davis led Bakersfield with 21 points (9-10 FG), nine rebounds and five assists.
The Vaqueros had one last run in them though. After missing their first eight threes, point guard Wilfrid Nado came off a screen and knocked one down with confidence, kicking off a 9-0 SBCC run between he and Mandel.
Down four with a minute and a half to go, SBCC got out on the break off a long defensive board by Bates and a well-run fast break led to a putback by Lee to make it a two-point game, 66-64. The Renegades answered with a timeout-forcing layup by Davis, but the Vaquero bench applaued the starting lineup's resilient effort as they made their way to the bench.
Unfortunately for the Vaqueros, the comeback effort would fall short. Nado finished with 15 points while Lee and Bates had 12 and eight, respectively.
