Sophomore forward Mario Malave scored a team-high 21 points, but Bakersfield College came up short in losing to College of the Canyons 73-61 at Gil Bishop Sports Arena in their final game of the regular season on Saturday.
With the loss, the Renegades fell to 5-7 in Western State Conference play and finished the season tied for fourth place with West Los Angeles. The loss also took them out of playoff contention. Coach Brent Davis seemed to know his team’s postseason fate already when he acknowledged that “with the loss we are on the outside of the bubble. It’s probably not going to happen.”
The Cougars were led by Carlton Spencer, who scored 21 points, and Curtis Dunwoody with 18 points. Canyons improved to 10-1 in the WSC and 18-8 overall.
The Cougars clinched the South Division title and the ninth seed in the Southern California Regionals. Fifth-seeded College of the Desert plays host to Canyons in the first round of the postseason on Feb. 25.
BC took a 29-24 lead into halftime and increased its lead to 10 early in the second half. But it didn’t last long.
The turning point came with 7:46 left in the second half when Marquintice Davis was hit with his second technical foul just minutes after receiving his first, and he was ejected with BC’s lead down to one.
“The first one was my fault,” Marquintice Davis said. As for the second technical foul, “I didn’t say anything to him. I just made the shot, came down and clapped, and he gave me a technical.”
After being held to just 24 points in the first half, Canyons scored 49 points in the second, outscoring the Renegades by 17.
“(We) got a little excited [and] turned the ball over a few times. We weren’t getting the hoops we were getting in the first half,” Brent Davis said.
For next season, BC has the possibility of nine freshman returning, including Marquintice Davis.