The Bakersfield College men's basketball team strengthened its stranglehold on first place in the Western State-South Conference with a 81-63 thrashing of Santa Monica College at the Gil Bishop Sports Center on Saturday night.

 The Renegades, ranked No. 15 in the state, eclipsed an early six-point Corsairs' lead and then continued to pull away as the game progressed.

 "Our defense was really good," BC coach Rich Hughes said. "We gave up 63 points for the game. We talked about if we just don't turn the ball over and keep them in front of us they're going to have a hard time scoring. I was really pleased with our defense."

 Deandre Dickson tallied 18 points, 21 rebounds four assists, and three blocked shots to help BC (17-4, 6-1 WSC) down Santa Monica (15-5, 4-3 WSC) and end the first half of league play two games up on five teams tied for second place.

 "We talked about this being the last game of the first round (of league play) and we need to make a statement," Hughes said. "Are we going to take the first punch or are we going to deliver the first five punches. We started out a little bit slow but we had those little sequences where we separated ourselves from them in that first half. It's a great first round for us."

 Leading 31-25 at halftime, BC extended its advantage to as many as 27 points in the second half.

 Lawrence Moore poured in 15 of his 19 points after intermission.

 Two other BC players scored in double figures.

 Point guard Jameik Riviere, the state leader in assists per game, had 15 points and six assists.

 Nick Velasquez added 11 points for the Renegades, who improved to 6-0 at home this season.

 BC lead 32-25 early in the second half before breaking the game open with a 29-11 spurt that featured 10 points by Moore including a pair of three-pointers.

The 21 rebounds by Dickson bested his previous season-high of 15.

The 6-foot-9 sophomore came into the game ranked fifth in the state in rebounds per game averaging 10.7.

 "He's a special player," Hughes said. "He's so big. He's athletic. He cleans it up and he works hard…When he plays like he did tonight it's hard for teams. If you're not hitting the first shot, you're not getting that second shot attempt and that's huge for us."

 Dickson's junior college career-high in rebounds is 25. He accomplished that in his very first game as a Renegade on Nov. 13, 2014 against LA Trade Tech.

 The BC men play next on Saturday at 5 p.m. when they hosts Citrus College.