Aidan Mandel had his third straight all-tournament-worthy performance, and the SBCC men’s basketball team shot over 50% on three-pointers in a 78-57 third-place victory over LA Valley in the SBCC Classic on Saturday.
Santa Barbara (4-9) earned its third win in four tries behind a season-high shooting performance, as the team went 53.7 percent from the field and 52.2 percent from the outside, knocking down its most threes (12-23 3FG) of the season.
Mandel scored 23 points (11-15 FG) on his most efficient shooting day of the season. His three-game SBCC Classic averages of 24 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals per game on 60.1 percent from the field earned him All-Tournament honors.
It was point guard Wilfrid Nado who helped get Santa Barbara out to a good start though. Despite picking up two early fouls, Nado stayed in the game and knocked down his first two three-point attempts.
Guard Truman Teuber had a good spell off the bench midway through the opening half, contributing to a 7-0 SBCC run by scoring five unanswered. LA Valley hung close, but the Vaqueros ended the half strong and Mandel hit a jumper in the final seconds to give them their largest lead yet at 34-27.
It was still a six-point game midway through the second, but with just over nine minutes to go, the home side started pouring it on. Tyler Williams and Nado knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions. Two plays later, Nado hit his fifth triple of the night, putting his team up 64-49 as they game began to blow open.
Nado went on to finish with 19 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 5-for-7 on threes. Guard Trevor Lee was a perfect 3-for-3 from deep on his way to a 13-point, 9-rebound, 5-assist, 3-steal, 2-block stat line.