Vikings overcome rough night shooting to defeat Santa Barbara 63-57

The Long Beach City College men's basketball team shot just 36 percent from the field but made crucial free throws down the stretch to hold on for a 63-57 non-conference win over visiting Santa Barbara City College on Friday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

Sophomore Kristien Owens (Wilson HS) came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points and helped fuel a 9-0 second-half run by the Vikings that ultimately gave LBCC the lead for good.

Long Beach held a 27-22 halftime advantage as neither team was able to light up the floor with their shooting. The two squads combined to make 17 of 53 shots in the low-scoring opening half.

With Long Beach up 29-22 at the 18 minute mark in the second, Santa Barbara ripped off a 12-4 run. Samuel Kelley's three-pointer got SBCC within one and Prince Arceneaux's jumper with 15 minutes to go gave the Vaqueros its first lead of the second half at 34-33.

But LBCC responded with nine unanswered points including six from Owens to get back out in front. At the 10:30 mark, Owens blocked Jared Moore's shot then raced down court and threw down a vicious two-handed dunk that increased Long Beach's lead to 40-34.

Santa Barbara didn't go down easy. The Vaqueros got within six points late, but the Vikings converted 7 of 11 free throw attempts during the final minute to ice the win.

Long Beach had four score in double figures with freshman Brandon Staton (Poly HS) posting a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Ryan Stewart (Hawthorne HS) had 12 points and five rebounds while freshman Chris Spencer (Jordan HS) came off the bench to add 10 points and seven rebounds.

Arceneaux and Pablo Miranda both scored 14 points to lead Santa Barbara (1-10). Stephen Harper added six points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Long Beach, now 7-6 overall, closes its non-conference schedule on Saturday (Jan 4) when the Vikings host West Los Angeles College at 5 p.m.