Santa Barbara Holds Off LA Pierce 74-64 at Home

By AJ Nagbe

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The Vaqueros Men's Basketball team held off LA Pierce 74-64 on Wednesday night at Robertson Gym, overcoming early zone defense struggles to improve to 14-12 overall and 4-6 in Western State Conference play.

Mason Thomas came off the bench to lead all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. James Reach added 14 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double, while Jack Berry contributed 10 points. The Vaqueros shot efficiently from beyond the arc, knocking down key three-pointers in the second half to break through LA Pierce's zone defense and pull away for the 10-point victory.

The game featured four ties and six lead changes in a competitive first half before Santa Barbara took control. The Vaqueros led 34-28 at halftime and extended their advantage to 74-64 by the final buzzer, outscoring Pierce 40-36 in the second half. SBCC shot 45.9% from the field and knocked down 9-of-26 three-pointers, with five coming in crucial second-half moments to stretch the lead. The bench outscored LA Pierce's reserves 40-8, led by Thomas's 22-point performance, while the Vaqueros forced 19 turnovers and matched Pierce in the paint with 34 points apiece.

Head coach Devin Engebretsen acknowledged the challenge LA Pierce's zone defense presented early in the game. "Pierce came in and kind of threw different zones at us, a box-and-one zone and then kind of like a 1-3-1 zone or a 1-2-2, just mixed up their zones a little bit," Engebretsen said. "We haven't really been zoned all year, it's just small pockets here and there, so that kind of messed with us early. But after a couple of timeouts, we reminded them what our actions were, and we relied on hitting jumpers early. Then after maybe the 13-minute mark in the first half, we started getting into the paint and getting to the rim."

Engebretsen emphasized the importance of defense fueling the team's offense. "The bigger part for us was getting stops," he said. "Our defense needs to feed our offense. We're not the greatest shooters ever, we're not super prolific on the offensive end, so our defense has to kind of feed our offense. By getting stops, getting rebounds, getting the ball, that allows us to get in the open court. We've got good open court players who can make plays in traffic."

He highlighted the team's second-half shooting adjustments that broke open the game. "In the second half, they kind of stayed in that zone stuff a little bit, and then we stretched it out by making shots," Engebretsen said. "We hit five threes over maybe three or four minutes. Mason had a few, Dominic Bonafede had two, and James had one. Then they had to get out of the zone because we were making shots, and then the lead was 20. When they had to play man-to-man, that helped us."

Engebretsen praised several key contributors in the victory. "Mason Thomas had a great shooting game. He had 22 points, 5-for-8 from three," he said. "I thought Berry and Brycen Matthews had a great game at the point guard spot. James Reach had 14 points and 10 rebounds, so he did a great job of being able to score but also clear the boards defensively. Dominic hit a couple of late second-half threes that kind of stretched the lead, and I thought Finn Whipps off the bench played well inside. He had seven points and five rebounds in only 12 minutes."

Looking ahead, Engebretsen expressed pride in the team's progress. "Our record now is 14-12, which means we're going to be at .500 or better," he said. "It's been a long time in our history at Santa Barbara [since we've finished .500 or better], so we're really proud of doing that. We've got two more to go, so we're hoping that instead of going 14-14 or 15-13, we can go 16-12. I still think we have a small outside chance at the playoffs if we can win out."

Santa Barbara (14-12, 4-6) travels to Allan Hancock on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 1 p.m. for Sophomore Day.