Oxnard tops Vaqueros in 95-91 shootout

Martin Pedersen poured in a season-high 27 points on Wednesday night and Tejon Williams had 23 but it wasn't enough for SBCC, which lost to Oxnard 95-91 in a WSC North men's basketball shootout at the Sports Pavilion.

Pedersen, a 6-4 freshman from Denmark, played all 40 minutes and hit 8-of-12 from the field and a sizzling 7-10 from 3-point land. His previous high was 16 points vs. Hancock on Jan. 6. He scored 17 in the first half on Wednesday, including back-to-back 3's that cut the deficit to 34-31 with 4:04 to go.

Williams, who also played 40 minutes, dropped in 9-14 shots to finish with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Vaqueros (7-16, 2-7). Evan Tillman had 17 points and six rebounds but picked up his fourth foul with eight minutes to play and had to sit out a crucial three-minute stretch. His team was ahead 76-71 when he left and three minutes later, the Condors took their first lead since early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Terrance Nunnery that made it 85-83.

Nunnery scored 23 for Oxnard (9-12, 3-6) and DeSean Scott added 22 on 11-12 free-throw shooting. The Condors hit 21-30 from the charity stripe for the game while SBCC made only 9-13. The second-half free throws also favored the visitors – 18-24 compared to 5-8 for the home team.

Oxnard led 41-39 at the half but the Vaqueros put together an 11-3 run and took their biggest lead, 66-54, on a stepback 14-footer in the lane by Williams with 12:05 to play.

"We were up 10 and then they hit four straight free throws that really changed the momentum," said Vaquero coach Morris Hodges. "We had a few empty trips and they hit some big buckets. I thought we gave up too many offensive rebounds in both halves. We didn't do a good job of boxing out."

Robert Hutchins added 12 points for the Vaqueros, who hit 51.5 percent from the field, including 12-29 from downtown. Oxnard outrebounded SBCC 40-31, including 16-11 at the offensive end.

The Condors went up by four with 3:13 to play and then led by five, 93-88, when Tillman fouled out and Scott made two free throws with 1:50 to go. Williams knocked down a triple with 11.7 seconds left to cut it to three but the Vaqueros had to foul and Nunnery made the second of two free throws to seal the 95-91 win with 9.4 seconds left.

The Vaqueros will host second-place Moorpark on Saturday at 7 p.m.