Santa Barbara High’s boys basketball team has been on a roll at the defensive end during the home stretch of the Channel League schedule.
The Dons have been shutting down their opponents, allowing less than 42 points in their last four games before Monday night’s showdown with San Marcos for the outright league championship.
Santa Barbara rose to the occasion in the big game. Its defense held San Marcos to eight points in the first half en route to a 73-37 blowout win at a jam-packed J.R. Richards Gym. The Dons win the title with a record of 13-1 (26-5 overall). San Marcos finishes second at 11-3, 21-7.
“We played some really good defense this year but not consistently,” said Santa Barbara coach Greg Zuffelato. “Something clicked. For me, it was the Oxnard game (a 51-41 win at home) that jump us way up. Then we really took it to Ventura (a 75-41 road win last Friday). I was worried about a trap game between two big games.”
The defensive-active Dons deflected passes, forced bad shots, blocked shots, created turnovers and shut down San Marcos’ leading scorer Koji Hefner.
“They’re doing everything we’ve been working on all year but they’re just doing it at a higher level, their communication, their ball pressure,” said coach Zuffelato of his players’ defensive effort. “At San Marcos, our ball pressure wasn’t so good and they were getting lobs into Koji. Well, now, we pressured the ball so the lobs they threw went out of bounds. It’s clicking.”
Two early Santa Barbara steals resulted in a dunk and three-point basket by senior Diesel Lowe for an 8-2 lead. Then Luke Zuffelato got hot, burying a pair of three-pointers for a 16-6 advantage. After a forced San Marcos shot, Lowe passed to Carter Battle for a layup, and the rout was on.
Hefner, the Royals’ leading scorer, hardly touched the ball in the first half and was held scoreless.
San Marcos coach Matt Jordan was succinct in his response on how that was possible: “Luke’s pretty good,” he said, referring to the play of the Dons’ standout and UC Santa Barbara commit.
Hefner scored 12 points in the second half.
“Our offense is predicated on Koji getting paint touches and Luke really hindered that in a big way. Credit to him. He’s an amazing player. Their guys played really well, Carter Diesel, Luke played well. When your three best guys play well in a high school game, it’s really tough to win.”
Coach Zuffelato said the tremendous defensive effort by his team frustrated San Marcos.
“When things start to break down, you get frustrated and that’s what we were hoping for, and that’s what happened tonight.”