Vaqueros can’t overcome second-half slump in 65-53 setback

Cuesta went on a 9-0 run early in the second half on Wednesday night and SBCC never recovered in a WSC game at the Sports Pavilion. The Cougars outshot the Vaqueros 43 to 25 percent in the second half en route to a 65-53 victory.

Cuesta, the WSC North leader, improved to 19-9 and 8-2 and remained a half-game ahead of Ventura with two to play. Dmitry Utolin hit 3-5 from 3-point range and led the Cougars with 18 points off the bench. Oscar Pedroso had 17 points.

Prince Arceneaux scored 12 points with eight rebounds for the Vaqueros (1-19, 0-9) but also had eight turnovers. Kenneth Edwards scored 10, Clark Stokes had nine and Pablo Miranda contributed eight points and four assists.

Cuesta took a 33-31 halftime lead when Utolin canned a 3-pointer with 0:03 on the clock. The Vaqueros went ahead 40-38 on a layup by Arceneaux with 16:03 to play but the Cougars responded with their 9-0 run to take a 47-40 lead.

Both teams struggled from the 3-point line in the second half with Cuesta making 1-9 and the Vaqueros 1-11.

"The second-half shooting was the difference," said coach Morris Hodges. "We had some attempts close to the bucket but our inability to score allowed them to stretch it out.

"In the first half, we were playing the game the way we wanted to. Then we had 10 second-half turnovers and a couple of those led to easy runouts." 

The final shooting stats were close with Cuesta leading 41.4 to 37.3. The Cougars also outrebounded the Vaqueros 40-30.

The Vaqueros travel to Ventura on Saturday with tip-off at 7 p.m.