Oxnard holds off Vaqueros, 75-70

Jakari McClain, the state's top scorer, tallied 23 points on Wednesday night to lead Oxnard to a 75-70 men's basketball win over visiting SBCC.

McClain, a 6-4 sophomore guard, came in with a 33.2 average. He hit 9-15 from the field and 3-8 from 3-point land.

The Condors (4-10, 2-3 WSC North) led 41-31 at halftime.

"We got off to a good start (leading 18-8) and the guys were really executing the game plan," said SBCC coach Morris Hodges. "A critical juncture was when we got away from our plan and started taking some ill-advised shots. That led to runouts for them and switched the momentum of the game."

The Vaqueros (1-17, 0-5) held Oxnard, the state's fifth-best scoring team at 88.7 per game, to 75 points, one off their season low.

Oxnard shot nearly 50 percent (49.2) and the Vaqueros tied their season high of 47.5 percent. The Condors hit 10-27 from long range and the visitors were 6-17.

Drayten Howell led the Vaqueros with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Donald Grant scored a season-high 18 on 9-13 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Francisco Gutierrez added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists while Ryan Smith had eight points and six boards.

The Vaqueros won the rebound battle, 37-27, but also committed 23 turnovers leading to 23 points.

Santa Barbara opens the second round of conference on Saturday when it hosts Cuesta at 7 p.m.