Bakersfield College men’s basketball team beat West L.A. College in a high-scoring game by a score of 99-80.

The Renegades beat West L.A. on Jan. 25, improving to 8-13, thanks in part to 29 points from freshman starting forward Conroy Lester and 12 points from freshman guard Mike Young, who hit a buzzer-beater from half court to end the first half.

BC got to a quick start by taking a 14-3 lead, but West L.A. was able to rally behind starting guard Rodney Blackmon, who scored 13 of his 27 points in the first half. The score was tied at 46-46 with nine seconds left when Young hit a halfcourt buzzer-beater to give BC the lead going into the second half.

“I saw the shot clock winding down and just shot the ball, but I didn’t think it was going in,” said Young.

BC was able to pull away from West L.A. in the second half by going on a 16-6 run to start the half and outscoring the Wildcats 50-34 in the second half.

Couch Rich Hughes commented on the Renegades’ performance.

“We did good. I thought we did a good job sharing the ball which led to us getting easy baskets and I thought we did a god job making our free throws. We also wanted to shut down their three best players and at times I thought we did a good job of that, but other times we were lackadaisical,” said Hughes.

He added that their depth was the reason they were able to build a big lead in the second half.

“We knew they didn’t have much depth so we played more guys and I think it wore them down,” Hughes said.

Lester commented on his and the team’s performance.

“I think I did pretty good other than a few layups I missed, and I could’ve done a better job rebounding the ball as well. I worked really hard during practice and it helped me to be prepared for the game.

“As a team I think offensively this was our best game of the year, but we can still do a better job on defense. Hopefully we can win the rest of our conference games and make a push for the playoffs,” he said.

Young gave his thoughts on the game.

“I think we did good on defense,  we played as a team and listened to coach. I still think we can improve on being more consistent on offense and playing more together as a team,” he said.

BC’s  next game is scheduled be at home against Santa Monica College on Jan. 28.