SCC's Strong Start Propels Hawks to Victory in the 1st Round of the CCCAA State Playoffs

Santiago Canyon earned the #10 in the CCCAA Men's Basketball State Playoffs and hosted Chaffey College in the first round of action. The Hawks came out on fire and scored the game's first 12 points and never looked back winning by the score of 88-72. SCC will travel to Ventura College on Saturday Night for the Southern California Regional Semi-Finals. With the win tonight, SCC improves to 19-10 on the season.

With the strong start to the game, the Hawks were able to build a 20-point lead in the first half. Their pressure defense forced turnovers and ignited the offense. Kai Smith and Aaron Wadman led SCC in scoring in the half with 12 points apiece. Zach Ibbetson started the game off with a bang by hitting a three-pointer as part of his 8-point half. Santiago Canyon shot 57.1% from the field and made 6 out of 10 three-pointers in the half. They held the Panthers to 1 for 11 from distance and 33.3% from the field.  The score at intermission was 47-27 in favor of the Hawks.

SCC started the second half strong as well and built a 26-point lead at the 15:28 mark in the game. Chaffey made a run for the next 10 minutes and cut the lead to ten points with about 4:30 to go in the game. However, the Panthers could never get the spread under 10 points as SCC responded with clutch three-pointers by Joey Longo and Damien Parker. Leading the way in scoring for the game was Wadman with a game high 23 points. Smith finished with 17 points, while Parker and Ibbetson both scored 13 points to round out the double digit scorers. Wadman also had a game high 11 rebounds. Longo and Wadman both dished out 4 assists. 

The Hawks are now 19-10 on the season and are advancing to the next round of the state playoffs. #10 seeded, Santiago Canyon, will play at #7 seeded Ventura College on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7pm.