Santa Barbara Bests LA Valley, Claims Third Place in Classic

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Finn Whipps came off the bench to score 16 points — including three 3-pointers — and grabbed eight rebounds to spark the Vaqueros to a 79-65 win over the LA Valley College Monarchs, securing third place in the 2024 Santa Barbara City College Basketball Classic.

From the start, the Monarchs focused on slowing down Santa Barbara's inside attack, emphasizing defense against William Pace. They held the forward to just four points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field in the first half.

Enter Whipps, whose energy provided the Vaqueros with an offensive threat both inside and beyond the arc. He tallied 12 points and four rebounds in the first half.

"The dude plays with so much energy, and he just plays so hard," said head coach Devin Engebretson. "I want to put it in a bottle and open it up from time to time. He has shown tremendous growth in being able to score the basketball and, obviously, the way he rebounds. He had a great day on the glass as well."

Santa Barbara went into halftime with a 33-30 lead.

Then it was time for Julian Hicks to make his mark on the game. The guard scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half, including three 3-pointers. 

"Julian really stepped up today and made shots," said Engebretson. "He hit a huge corner three out of a timeout and then hit another three. That's when I felt like we could take a breath and have some relief. It opened up the game a touch for us."

James Reach added 18 points to the Vaqueros total, and Kyle Haughy contributed four points, four rebounds, and five assists.

Even though Pace was held to just nine points — his first single-digit performance since Nov. 23 — he contributed 11 rebounds (three offensive) and earned all-tournament honors.

"Will is like the lifeblood of our team. He's a great leader, he's a great guy, and he's a beast on the boards. He also scored the basketball this weekend for us," said Engebretson.

The Vaqueros have won five of their last seven games to improve their record to 6-8.

"I feel like our team is improving daily — in our practices and in our games," said Engebretson. "This was a tough week for our guys. We came back from Monterey last weekend, and then finals were this week. I think we just had some mental fatigue and probably some emotional fatigue, but they really rose above it this weekend and played pretty good basketball."

Men's basketball will be back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at Glendale.

Results from the third day of the Classic:

Tournament Honors: