Porterville closes on 19-4 run to beat Vaqueros 80-56

Porterville outscored SBCC 19-4 in the last 8:14 on Saturday night and earned an 80-56 men's basketball win in the Sports Pavilion.

Sophomore forward Da'Morea Green hit 11-14 shots and topped the Pirates (5-6) with 24 points and eight rebounds. Kile Kleiner dropped in 10-of-15 shots and paced the short-handed Vaqueros (3-11) with 24 points and seven boards. It was the sixth time Kleiner has scored 22 or more points in his last 11 games.

The Vaqueros, who were playing their first game in 14 days, had just seven players available for the non-conference game.

SBCC fell behind by 15 in the second half, then went on a 6-0 run and pulled within nine, 61-52, on a jumper by Joseph Holden, a layup by Kleiner and a scoop layup by Michael Green at the 8:14 mark. The Pirates regained control with a 12-0 spurt that extended the lead to 21 points.

"We weren't moving our feet on our interior defense in those last eight minutes and that caused us to be late on our rotations in the zone," said SBCC coach Morris Hodges. "We had one guy injured and another guy who's not back from Christmas. Our effort needs to be a little bit better, particularly on the defensive end."

Holden registered his first double-double of the year with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The Pirates outshot the Vaqueros 56.7% to 36.0% in the second half thanks to numerous layups.

There were 10 lead changes and four ties in the first half. The Vaqueros went ahead 17-16 on a bucket by Jacob Williams, then the Pirates put together a 17-5 burst and took a 33-22 lead on a 10-foot pull-up jumper by Elijah Cardenas with 5:08 to go.

The Pirates led 42-35 at intermission. Cardenas finished with 13 points and Dominic King had six points, seven assists and five steals.

The Vaqueros will open 2019 with two games in the Western State Classic at Bakersfield College. They'll battle L.A. Valley on Friday at 6 p.m. and Glendale on Saturday at 5 p.m.