Santa Barbara City College hopes to do something it has never done before — reach the championship game of its own men’s basketball tournament for the third straight year — in the 36th annual SBCC Classic. The eight-team event begins with four games on Thursday at the Sports Pavilion.

Santa Barbara (4-9) takes on Cañada (2-7) at 7 p.m. Cypress (5-5) and Grossmont (1-7) will meet in Thursday’s opener at 3 p.m., followed by Oxnard (2-6) and Victor Valley (6-3) at 5 p.m. Hancock (3-8) takes on L.A. Valley (6-3) at 9 p.m.

Ticket prices are $5 per game or $12 for a three-day pass.

The Vaqueros fell in the 2006 title game to Mt. San Antonio, and L.A. Valley won last year by a 100-84 score. SBCC was awarded the 2006 title when Mt. SAC forfeited. Santa Barbara has won eight Classic titles with seven runner-up finishes.

“That’s our goal again this year, to get to the finals and win it,” 19th-year SBCC head coach Morris Hodges said. “Hopefully, we can put three good days together.”

SBCC has fallen into big first-half holes in several games recently before erasing most or all of the deficit.

“We need to take care of the ball better in the first half, limit our turnovers, and we need to defend better,” Hodges said. “A lot of the turnovers have led to easy baskets.”

David Lane has been hot since returning from a fractured wrist six games ago. The 6-foot-1 freshman point guard from Akron, Ohio, is averaging 20.8 points, including a season-high 30 on Saturday in a loss to Hartnell. One day earlier, he had 18 points, 14 assists and three steals in an 84-75 win over Monterey Peninsula.

“I like to attack the basket more than shoot, but I can do both,” Lane said. “We need to come out strong and get some wins.”

The Vaqueros haven’t won two straight all season.

Sophomore guard Mark Keeten, who’s averaging 17 points, scored a career-high 41 points in last year’s title game, missing the Classic record by a point.

“The crowd was into it last year and having our home crowd makes things way easier,” Keeten said. “We’ve been fouling way too much and giving up too many points. It seems like every game we did a big hole in the first half and end up having to come back. A lot of times, we’re too tired. We were down by 20 last game and got within one.”

Hodges doesn’t know much about Cañada, a team from Redwood City that has lost four of its last five and hasn’t scored more than 69 this season. SBCC is averaging 79 points while giving up 85.2.

“I’m more interested in what we’re not doing right now,” he said. “Our focus is on ourselves.”

36th annual SBCC Classic
Sports Pavilion

Thursday, Dec. 11
3 p.m. — Cypress (5-5) vs. Grossmont (1-7)
5 p.m. — Oxnard (2-6) vs. Victor Valley (6-3)
7 p.m. — SBCC (4-9) vs. Cañada (2-7)
9 p.m. — Hancock (3-8) vs. L.A. Valley (6-3)

Friday, Dec. 12
3 p.m. and 5 p.m. — Consolation semifinals
7 p.m. and 9 p.m. — Championship semifinals

Saturday, Dec. 13
3 p.m. — Consolation final
5 p.m. — Third place
7 p.m. — Championship

Dave Loveton is Santa Barbara City College‘s sports information director.