Four players scored in double digits as host Santa Barbara won its fourth straight game with a 70-59 win over LA Valley in a semifinal of the SBCC Classic Friday evening.
Santa Barbara (4-4), which won just one game last season, reached the .500 mark with its longest streak in memory. But it was anything but easy as the Vaqueros saw most of a 25-point second-half lead melt away before making enough free throws in the final minute to finally secure the win.
In the first half, Santa Barbara jumped out to a 7-0 lead as LA Valley (3-5) missed its first 7 shots of the game. Valley rallied to cut the deficit to a single point at 14-13, but after that SBCC started to pull away.
Alex Koutroubis pushed SBCC's lead to double digits with a 3-pointer that made it 29-17 with just over 5 minutes left before halftime. The Vaquero lead at the break was 38-21, at which point SBCC held a rather astounding advantage in rebounds, 25-7. That, combined with Valley's 26% shooting percentage in the first half, seemed to spell doom for the Monarchs.
When the second half started, things seemed to get worse for LA Valley. Jonathan Montez scored after - what else - a rebound to push the Vaquero lead to 44-23. Then Sean Keyes hit a three-pointer to make it 47-23. SBCC's lead reached 25 after another Keyes three made it 50-25 with 14:20 left.
Then LA Valley coach Virgil Watson went to a trapping fullcourt press, and that changed the tempo in favor of the Monarchs. Michael Morrissey converted a 3-point play with 8:53 left that cut the margin to 16 at 53-37. Travis Harlin Jr. made two free throws with 8:17 left to make it 53-39. Morrissey scored on a driving lay-up and a little later made two free throws to make it 54-43 with 7:08 to go.
The Monarch rally continued, with Valley getting as close as 5 points after Harlin scored on - wait for it - a rebound, with 1:40 left to make it 61-56. After being outrebounded by an absurd margin in the first half, the smaller but quicker Monarchs nearly held their own on the boards in the second half (SBCC had just a 22-19 advantage).
Valley had a chance to get a little closer, but Harlin and Jordan Brown both missed shots, and SBCC's Thomas Walker got the rebound. He got the ball to Alonzo McCain, who outletted the ball to Keyes for a lay-up that kept the Vaqueros in control. McCain and Montez each made a pair of free throws in the final minute to nail down the win for Santa Barbara.
Walker led all scorers with 15 pts, which came on 7-for-9 from the floor. Montez had a double-double with 13 pts and a game-high 11 rebs, and Keyes also had 13 pts. McCain had 12 pts and a game-high 8 asts. Overall SBCC shot 51% from the floor and had a 47-26 rebounding advantage, and that was enough to compensate for committing 25 turnovers.
For LA Valley, Morrissey scored a team-high 14 pts and added 4 rebs, 2 asts and 2 steals. Brown had a double-double with 12 pts and a team-high 10 rebs, and also had 3 steals. Harlin had 10 pts and 6 rebs, and White had 10 pts, 3 rebs and 3 asts.
box score
2014 SBCC Classic
Friday, December 12th @ Santa Barbara CC
Semifinal - 7 pm
LA Valley Monarchs 59:
2-Geordan Sayles, PG - 2/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 6 pts
3-Roger White, SF - 4/15 fg, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 10 pts
4-Jordan Brown, PF - 3/13 fg, 5/6 ft, 10 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 3 pf, 12 pts
12-Michael Morrissey, SG - 4/11 fg, 4/6 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 14 pts
15-Travis Harlin Jr., C - 4/10 fg, 2/4 ft, 6 reb, 1 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
20-Kewon Bowman, G - 2/3 fg, 0/6 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 5 pf, 5 pts
30-Guillermo Blas, G - 0/1 fg, 1 pf, 0 pts
24-Kevin Cabrera, F - 1 ast, 2 stl, 0 pts
35-Kenny Brooks, F - 1/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 2 pts
team rebounds: 1
Totals: 20/62 fg (.323), 12/24 ft (.500), 26 reb, 12 ast, 1 blk, 11 stl, 18 pf, 59 pts
3-pt fg (7): White 2, Morrissey 2, Sayles, Brown, Bowman
Fouled Out: Bowman 51.5 seconds left
Turnovers (7): Brown 3, White, Morrissey, Harlin, Cabrera
Santa Barbara Vaqueros 70:
23-Alonzo McCain, PG - 2/4 fg, 6/6 ft, 3 reb, 8 ast, 1 pf, 12 pts
33-Sean Keyes, SG - 4/12 fg, 3/3 ft, 2 reb, 4 pf, 13 pts
41-Alex Koutroubis, SF - 2/5 fg, 10 reb, 3 ast, 3 pf, 5 pts
44-Thomas Walker, C - 7/9 fg, 1/2 ft, 6 reb, 4 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 15 pts
50-Jonathan Montez, PF - 5/9 fg, 3/4 ft, 11 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 13 pts
21-Ty Cleland, G - 1/2 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 5 pf, 4 pts
34-Elijah Grant, F - 1/1 fg, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 pts
35-Wallace Baker-Mason, C - 0/1 fg, 1 blk, 2 pf, 0 pts
11-Justin Holden, G - 1/1 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 4 pts
31-Julian Lofton, F - 1/3 fg, 1 reb, 2 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 24/47 fg (.511), 15/19 ft (.789), 47 reb, 19 ast, 6 blk, 1 stl, 20 pf, 70 pts
3-pt fg (7): McCain 2, Keyes 2, Koutroubis, Cleland, Holden
Fouled Out: Cleland 1:58 left
Turnovers (25): McCain 5, Keyes 5, Walker 4, Montez 3, Cleland 3, Baker-Mason 2, Koutroubis, Grant, Holden
Halftime Score: Santa Barbara 38, LA Valley 21
Updated Records: Santa Barbara 4-4, LA Valley 3-5
SBCC outrebounded LA Valley 25-7 in the 1st half and led 50-25 early in the 2nd half.
Valley rallied to get within 5 at 61-56 with 1:40 left but never quite caught up.
