Furious comeback falls one bucket short in 95-92 loss

SBCC set season highs in points (92) and 3-pointers (11) on Saturday but it wasn't enough as a late 18-4 rally came up one basket short in a 95-92 loss to Gavilan at the Monterey Bay Classic.

The 92 points were a season best for the Vaqueros, who came in averaging 56.1 points and their previous high was 69. Gavilan (4-7) is the No. 11 scoring team in the state, averaging 85.4 per game.

The Vaqueros trailed 51-41 at halftime, then fell behind by 17 (76-59) with 10:31 to play. They were down by 15 (89-74) with 4:36 left, then went on an 18-4 run and pulled within a point, 93-92, on a three-point play by Brycyn Gossett with 0:08 remaining.

Tahjae Ordonio made two free throws for the Rams with 6.8 seconds left, boosting the lead to three points. After a Vaquero timeout, Kile Kleiner's 3-pointer from the corner just missed the mark in the final seconds.

Santa Barbara (0-9) knocked down 10 3-pointers in the second half, including six by Joseph Holden. Holden, a 6-1 sophomore from Oakland, scored 20 of his season-high 24 points in the second half. He averaged 13.2 points last year but had only scored 15 in his first eight games this year.

Holden hit 9-15 from the field and 6-11 from downtown to score 24 points in 25 minutes.

Gossett added a season-high 17 points and 12 rebounds while Kleiner and Nicholas Muerzl had 10 apiece, including two 3-pointers each. Daniel Arzate had five points, four rebounds and seven assists.

Kobe Ordonio, the second-leading scorer in the state at 26.6, hit six 3-pointers and poured in 39 points for Gavilan, which is located in Gilroy. His brother, Tahjae, added 23 points.

The Rams hit eight triples and were 17-20 from the free-throw line. The Vaqueros were 3-10 from the foul line in the second half and 6-17 for the game.

"No. 2 [Kobe Ordonio] was really hurting us with his drives and pull-up 3's, so we went to a no-catch defense on him with Keegan McDougal leading the charge," said associate head coach Devin Engebretsen. "He only had four points in the last 7 minutes. Once he stopped scoring, we got stops and hit some huge 3's. We had a decent look from Kleiner to tie it at the end.

"Overall we persevered and dealt with adversity being down 16 or 18 in the second half and eventually cutting it to one."

The Vaqueros will open play in the 46th annual SBCC Classic on Thursday. They'll host Golden West at 6 p.m. in the three-day, eight-team tournament

Other first-round games on Thursday will pit Long Beach vs. Oxnard at 2 p.m.; Pasadena vs. Bakersfield at 4 p.m. and Porterville vs. L.A. Valley at 8 p.m.