Defense Leads the Way as Vaqueros Place Third Hosting SBCC Classic Tournament
SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Men's Basketball team hosted the 49th SBCC Classic Tournament this past weekend, placing third of eight teams. Defense was the story of the weekend for the Vaqueros, who allowed less than 70 points in all three games and had a few key defensive plays seal their place on the podium.
"We're feeling good," head coach Devin Engebretsen said. "We won two out of three and then we're going up to Cuesta [next weekend] for two games, so hopefully we can close out before the break winning four out of five."
SBCC's weekend began on Thursday with a matchup against Desert, the third of four games on the day. After taking an 11-point lead with 6 minutes left in the first half, the Vaqueros' lead hovered around there into halftime at 40-29.
Aidan Mandel played for the first time since breaking his leg in the first game of the season, gutting out 6 minutes for 6 points and 3 rebounds.
"Aidan came in—he has a broken leg. … He gave us a little bit of an emotional, energetic spark, so I want to highlight him," Engebretsen said.
The Vaqueros lead ballooned to 15 early in the second half, but got cut to 7 at various points midway through. However, the Vaqueros' shooting consistency helped keep Desert at bay, sinking 16 of 30 shots in the second half and 4 for 8 from three. On the other side, SBCC held Desert to 11 for 32 from the field and just 3 for 14 from three. They eventually coasted to a 79-61 victory.
"We had to switch between David Coniglio and Will [Pace] guarding [Desert leading scorer Jermayn Baxter] and they both did a really good job," Engebretsen said.
"We also employed our zone defense a lot in the second half and it helped control the flow of the game," he continued. "Defensively, we held them to 22% from three and 40% overall from the field, so that was a great job."
David Coniglio missed all of last weekend with an injury, but came back to lead all Vaqueros with 18 points, sinking 3 threes and also grabbing 7 rebounds.
William Pace had a similar line with 15 and 9, leading the team in rebounds, including 4 offensive rebounds which directly led to 6 second chance points.
"Great job with his leadership and his communication on the floor," Engebretsen said proudly of Pace. "He's really taken ownership there of getting the troops together in gameplay and that's an area we've been trying to focus on a little bit and be better at."
Truman Teuber had 14 points and 4 assists, and Nick Tjaden came off the bench to lead the team with 5 assists.
Tyler Williams led the bench with 9 points and 6 rebounds, also dishing 3 assists.
"That was a huge spark for us, as well," Engebretsen said. "We've really been talking about bench production … last night we had 25 points off the bench, so that's big for us."
On Friday, the Vaqueros played in the winners' bracket semifinal in a rematch with Monterey Peninsula (8-1). The weekend prior, Monterey Peninsula had beaten SBCC 78-61.
The game did not start well for the Vaqueros, falling into 10-0 and 25-5 deficits. However, they clawed back to 37-27 with less than a minute before halftime before 2 free throws took the teams to the break at 39-27. Isaiah Hicks helped to decrease the deficit with 9 points, including two momentum swinging threes.
"Monterey's a good team. I don't know if we just weren't ready to go, or what the issue was, but I give our guys credit for clawing their way back," Engebretsen said,
Monterey Peninsula controlled the flow in the second half, with their lead lingering around a dozen or so. Truman Teuber scored 8 points in the final 19 seconds, but the Vaqueros lost by 8—68-60.
In a markedly defensive game, SBCC held Monterey Peninsula to a decent 47% from the field, although SBCC could only muster 32%. Both teams shot just 28% from beyond the arc.
Truman Teuber and Isaiah Hicks each scored 15 for the Vaqueros, and Ethan Boness led all bench scorers with 12. Nick Tjaden once again led the team in assists with 6 off the bench. Tyler Williams had 9 rebounds off the bench, leading the team, with William Pace grabbing 7.
The loss meant the Vaqueros would not play in the Classic championship for the first time since 2015, but they could win third place for the second consecutive year.
The third place game came against conference foe Oxnard—although this was not a conference game—whom the Vaqueros beat twice in two close games last season.
Ethan Boness continued his strong play, scoring 9 first half points off the bench, leading all Vaqueros scorers. The first half ended 28-26, but surprisingly, the Vaqueros never held a lead. In fact, the only tie after tipoff was at 26-26.
"Another slow start for us, we were down early and had to fight our way back," Engebretsen said. "And then we played pretty well in the second half."
Immediately out of the break, Isaiah Hicks sunk 3 free throws to give the Vaqueros their first lead of the night. After both teams traded buckets until around 11 minutes remaining, Ethan Boness made good on his heat check, draining 2 threes a minute and a half apart. Nick Tjaden made 2 layups shortly after, and SBCC led 56-45 with 7 minutes remaining.
Truman Teuber hit a jumper with 4 minutes remaining to increase the lead now to 62-55, and the Vaqueros would not make a basket the rest of the game. Oxnard had a chance to tie it with 2 free throws at 62-60, but only made the second.
"Our defense was pretty solid holding Oxnard in the 60s, even Monterey only scored 68," Engebretsen concluded. "We're having a little trouble scoring."
William Pace made a free throw to make it 63-61 with 16 seconds left and Oxnard called timeout to draw up their last shot. Nick Tjaden then capped off his gritty second half with the biggest defensive play of the weekend. Oxnard attempted a game-winning 3-pointer as the buzzer went off, but Tjaden blocked the shot, sealing the win.
For a SBCC program that has made major strides the past 2-plus seasons, finishing third at its own tournament in consecutive years is an admirable achievement.
Ethan Boness led the team with 15 points, and Isaiah Hicks had a balanced offensive game with 9 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds.
William Pace had a massive 13 rebounds, and Tyler Williams grabbed 10, including 5 offensive.
Truman Teuber scored 12 points, capping off his All-Tournament Team weekend.
"We're trying to get [Truman] some more shots within sets—just trying to get him more looks. He came in and played great defense also."
Monterey Peninsula went on to be crowned champions, beating Bakersfield 71-68 in the final.
SBCC heads north for the MidState Bank tournament at Cuesta College next weekend, playing Hartnell on Friday at 5:00 PM and then Barstow on Saturday at 3:00 PM.
Photos by Ken Sciallo/Sevilla Photography and Zoe Neumer, SBCC Office of Communications
