Vaqueros Hold off Pierce Comeback, Earn 12th Win

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City College Men's Basketball team (12-8, 2-2) beat LA Pierce on Saturday night, 72-62. The 12th win of the year already makes it the winningest season since at least 2010-11, a continued sign of a program on the rise.

The Vaqueros were lifted by a monster night from Jack Berry (19 points, 15 rebounds), along with top scorer Mason Thomas (21 points), all career-highs.

"An overall good team effort," head coach Devin Engebretsen said. "We started off really hot. Credit to Pierce, they made a late push at the end of the first half."

Santa Barbara came out hot, building an 11-2 lead less than five minutes into the game. James Reach's three-pointer ballooned it to 20—28-8—a little past the 10-minute mark. Pierce hung in there, though, shrinking the deficit to 35-20 with three minutes remaining in the half. The visitors would further go on a 12-2 run into the break, and what looked like was going to be a cruising Vaqueros' victory turned into a 37-32 lead with 20 minutes to play.

Reach hit another three on the first possession after halftime, and Santa Barbara kept Pierce at arm's length for the next several minutes. Pierce used a three-pointer to make it 56-52 with seven minutes left, though, and one made free throw shortly after a Vaquero offensive foul made it a one-possession game. Santa Barabra rebuilt their lead to 64-54 with 3:30 remaining, a discrepancy that lasted to the final of 72-62.

Thomas scored all eight of the team's points from 3:30 to 0:30, sinking six important free throws in that span.

"We had been struggling to be tough on the defensive side of things, so we put an emphasis on taking charges," Engebretsen said. "We took two charges. Ramon Cota took one in the second half, and Mason Thomas took a huge charge [at the 3:30 mark]. That sealed the deal for us in terms of maintaining our lead at 10."

Brycen Matthews dished a team-high seven assists, while Reach was the third double-digit scorer with 11. Chase Kardosh was the most prolific bench scorer, drilling two threes in a very efficient six minutes on the court.

The Vaqueros hope to continue their solid season with just one game this following week, Wednesday at 7 p.m. hosting Allan Hancock in UCSB's Rob Gym.