Moorpark takes down Vaqueros with free throws, 90-72

SBCC canned a season-high 14 3-pointers on Wednesday night but it wasn't enough to overcome a minus-20 difference in free throws. Moorpark made 24-of-30 from the foul line in the second half of a 90-72 men's basketball victory at the Sports Pavilion.

The Vaqueros (1-21, 0-9) drained 14-29 from 3-point country (48.3%) and 12-20 from the free-throw line. The Raiders (11-15, 4-5) made 10-22 from long range and 32-40 from the charity stripe.

In his final home game, sophomore guard Drayten Howell led the Vaqueros with 22 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Francisco Gutierrez was 5-5 on 3-pointers and added a season-high 17 points.

Cole Micek topped Moorpark with 25 points in 26 minutes, thanks to 15-of-18 shooting from the free-throw line. Four other Raiders were in double figures, led by Justice De Corsi with 14 points.

Jerard O'Byrne hit four 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes and the Vaqueros rallied from a 17-5 hole to pull within two, 19-17. O'Byrne finished with a season-high 12 points on 4-9 shooting from downtown.

Gutierrez tossed in a long triple to cut the deficit to 30-27 with 4:41 to go in the opening half. Jacob Grebeta hit one of his three 3-pointers in the first half to spark a 12-7 run that gave the visitors a 42-34 halftime lead.

The Vaqueros shaved the margin to five points (51-46) on a 3 by Howell and three free throws. Micek drained a 3-pointer, igniting a 16-4 Raider run that stretched the lead to 17 points (67-50) with 10:30 to play.

"We missed some easy shots at the beginning of the game," said coach Morris Hodges. "When they went on that second-half run, we lost contact with some of their shooters and they hit a couple of threes in a row.

"We played hard but we were fouling too much and they got too many free throws."

The Vaqueros had twice as many turnovers (14 to 7) and that led to 16 points for the Raiders. Moorpark's bench outscored Santa Barbara 34-11.

SBCC will play its final game on Saturday at first-place Ventura, starting at 7 p.m.