Golden West holds off Vaqueros in Classic opener, 67-63

SBCC kept chipping away at Golden West's leads on Thursday night and got within two points late in the game but was never able to take the lead in a 67-63 loss at the 46th annual SBCC Classic.

John Stillgess tossed in 20 points on 8-12 shooting (3-3 on 3's) and Eric Watson had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Rustlers (2-7).

Adrian Juilland-Johnson paced the Vaqueros (0-10) with a season-high 24 points. five rebounds and three assists. The 6-3 freshman guard/forward from Redwood City scored 20 in the second half when he made 6-10 from the field and 3-6 from downtown. For the game, he was 9-17 from the floor and 5-10 on long-range shots.

The Vaqueros trailed by 11 (53-42) with 9:30 to play. They went on an 16-7 run and got it down to two, 60-58, on two free throws by Brycyn Gossett with 2:43 remaining. Golden West maintained a 4-5 point lead despite making only 5-9 free throws down the stretch.

Gossett, a 6-4 freshman from Dos Pueblos High, added nine points and five rebounds.

SBCC got within two again on a 3-pointer by Juilland-Johnson with 4.5 seconds to play. Ricky Briseno then hit two free throws to seal the win.
Five of SBCC's losses have been by five points or less.

The Vaqueros committed 16 turnovers compared the just five for the visitors from Huntington Beach.

"That's too many empty trips down the floor and those are important in a two-possession game," said coach Morris Hodges. "We didn't do enough to force them into more turnovers. Our careless ballhandling hurt us and we gave up some offensive rebounds."

The Vaqueros committed 10 first-half turnovers and fell behind 32-25.

"That's been our story this year, we keep digging these holes but we've shown a lot of resilience and perseverence to fight back and give ourselves a chance.

The Rustlers outshot the Vaqueros 42.2 to 36.1%. Golden West struggled from the free-throw line (9-21) while SBCC made 10-15.

"We're a young team with only one sophomore," Hodges added. "We have a lot of guys who are playing college basketball for the first time and they're learning and adjusting to this level of competition."
Santa Barbara will play Porterville (4-5) in a consolation semifinal on Friday at 4 p.m. L.A. Valley raced past Porterville 99-75 in Thursday's late game.

In other first-round games, Long Beach routed Oxnard 94-68 and Pasadena got past Bakersfield 78-73.

Oxnard and Bakersfield will square off at 2 p.m. on Friday. the championship semifinals will feature 8-1 L.A. Valley vs. Golden West at 6 p.m. and Long Beach vs. Pasadena at 8 p.m.