Freshman Mark Keeten tossed in 27 points Friday night and SBCC survived a late comeback to register an exciting 88-86 men’s basketball victory over Vandenberg AFB at the Sports Pavilion. Kola Togunde scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half and secured the win by blocking Javell Clay’s shot in the lane with two seconds to play. It was the first block of the year for the 5-foot-11 freshman.
Vandenberg erased an 86-80 deficit with back-to-back three-pointers in a 21-second span. Dezi Bryant’s trey tied it at 86 with 1:09 to play. Alberto Rangel’s follow shot with 54 ticks left turned out to be the game-winner. Rangel, a 6-5 sophomore, finished with nine points and nine rebounds, including seven on offense.
SBCC, playing its first home game in nearly a month, finished its nonconference slate with a 6-7 record. Keeten, the top scorer in the Western State Conference at 24 points per game, poured in eight straight points to give the Vaqueros their biggest lead of the first half, 32-25. The margin dwindled to 44-43 by halftime and there were four ties and eight lead changes in the first eight minutes of the second 20-minute stanza.
Keeten, a 6-foot freshman from Corona, went to the bench after picking up his fourth foul at the 12:02 mark. Togunde took the offensive reins with a layup, followed by a steal and a breakaway layin. Alex Fleming hit a 15-foot jumper and Jordan Scott, a starting cornerback on the football team, added a three-pointer to stretch the lead to nine, 77-68, with 6:28 to play.
Keeten returned at the 4:45 mark and promptly sank a 17-footer to give SBCC its biggest advantage, 81-71.
Vandenberg’s Matt McCraw led all scorers with 30 points.
SBCC travels to Oxnard on Jan. 9 before returning home to host Hancock at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 12.
Dave Loveton is Santa Barbara City College‘s sports information specialist.