Cuesta pulls away in second half for 76-57 win

Cuesta won the second-half shooting battle 55.6% to 33.3% on Saturday and rallied for a 76-57 men's basketball win over SBCC at the Sports Pavilion.

The Vaqueros (3-22, 0-8 WSC North) only had six players available after Jacob Williams and Samuel Weiss suffered season-ending injuries in the last 10 days. The Vaqueros outshot the visitors 46.2% to 37.5% in the first half and trailed 32-31 at the break after leading by four (26-22) with five minutes to go.

Zeke McMurtry had his ninth straight double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. He's averaging 17.7 points and is No. 2 on the state rebounding chart at 11.8 per game. Joseph Holden hit 3-6 from long distance and added 14 points for SBCC. Michael Green had his second-best scoring game with 10 points.

Kile Kleiner was held to seven points and five rebounds. Jashon Lee handed out five assists.

"I thought our guys really competed and we did a nice job defensively," said SBCC coach Morris Hodges. "We moved the ball and made some shots in the first half. In the second half, we had a couple guys get in foul trouble. Their No. 44 was a good post player and we couldn't double-team him because they shoot the 3 so well."

Iker Cruz, a 6-5 sophomore from Madrid, Spain, led the second-place Cougars (19-7, 6-2) with 23 points and 10 rebounds. He made 8-11 from the field and scored 19 of his 23 in the second half. Jorge Bueno added 18 points and eight rebounds.

Holden picked up his fourth foul with 13:20 remaining and Taylor Burns got his fourth two minutes later.

The Cougars snapped a 38-all tie with a 22-6 run that produced a 60-44 lead with 9:45 to play.

"There's a fatigue factor when you only have six guys," Hodges added. "Depth was definitely a factor (Cuesta used 11 players) but I really liked the way our guys competed. We could have moved the ball better on offense to make them sustain their defensive intensity. We shot a little too quick on some possessions.

"We've had four season-ending injuries this year. We lost our point guard Drake Sueda after just four games and he was a double-figure scorer, a tremendous competitor and a great defender. That hurt us in more ways than you can imagine."

The Vaqueros will host county rival Hancock in their last home game of the season on Tuesday at 5 p.m.