The SBCC men’s basketball team opened its SBCC Classic with an 83-74 victory over College of the Desert on Thursday.
Jaelen Bates’ fadeaway on the baseline with 2:22 to go put Santa Barbara up 71-64. That shot came just a couple minutes after a timely three by guard Trevor Lee, which turned a four-point lead into seven. The lead would never go below five points again.
Lee (22 points) was one of three SBCC starters to score at least 15 points. He was highly efficient while reaching the 20-point mark for the second straight game, going 8-of-12 overall and 2-for-2 from deep.
Forward Aidan Mandel set a new season-high. In his first performance at the Sports Pavilion, the freshman from San Marcos High notched his team-leading third double-double with 24 points (10-18 FG) and 10 rebounds. He also tallied four steals, three assists and two blocks.
The team’s leading scorer this season at 17.2 points per game, Mandel has now scored at least 22 points in five of his last eight outings.
Mandel scored the first four points of the second half and Lee knocked down a triple to put the home side up 40-30 at the 17:12 mark of the second half. Several minutes later, point guard Wilfrid Nado hit another three in transition to give the Vaqueros their largest lead of the night, 49-38.
Nado ended his night with 15 points and led all players with a career-best eight assists. As a team, Santa Barbara finished with a season-high 25 assists.
SBCC will move on in the winner’s bracket to face Bakersfield (4-4), which defeated Long Beach (7-4) in the final game of the night 92-87. The Vaqueros take on the Renegades at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night.