Santa Barbara High boys basketball coach Greg Zuffelato had a tricky situation to deal with on Senior Night at J.R. Richards Gym.
How in the world was he going to get 14 seniors sufficient playing time in a 32-minute game?
Coach Zuffelato and his staff managed to pull it off, and the Dons won their seventh straight and remained in sole possession of first place in the Channel League by pulling away to a 77-44 victory over Dos Pueblos on Monday night.
The Dons improved to 20-5 on the season and 10-1 in league. They are currently ranked 42nd in the latest rankings of all teams in the CIF-Southern Section. Dos Pueblos, which is in a battle for fourth place, falls to 4-6 in league and 12-12 overall.
All 18 Santa Barbara players saw action on Monday, and senior guard Carter Battle led all scorers with 23 points, which included a trio of three-pointers and two dunks. Fellow senior starter Luke Zuffelato finished with 18 points, while senior Davis Mahan was the scoring leader off the bench with seven points, all coming in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t even know,” coach Zuffelato said when asked how many lineups he used in the game. He noted there was “one brief moment at the end of the first quarter” when he had his regular starting five on the court.
“I kind of had (the lineups) planned out but it was really hard with 18 guys. They played hard, everybody played hard when they went in, and I knew they would. We are a talented team all the way through it. You just can’t have a rotation of 18 guys. The guys who don’t get time showed they can play when they get in. They can play.”
DP coach Joe Zamora recognized the depth of Santa Barbara.
“They’re deep and they got a lot of guys that can score,” he said.
The Chargers hung tough in the first half against Santa Barbara’s variety of lineups. They took a 17-15 lead on an Evan Pinsker three-pointer to start the second quarter and trailed by just six (23-17) with 3:55 left.
“They did what they were supposed to do,” said Zamora of his players following the game plan. “We just had to shorten the game in our minds. A team like that, you see them go on runs of 7-10 points, and we can’t have that. The guys bought into our game plan.”
Coulter Jay scored 12 points to lead three Chargers in double figures, Wyatt Gardiner tallied 11 and Pinsker added 10 points.
It was the defensive prowess of Carter that provided the spark for Santa Barbara to go on a run to end the second quarter. His tough defense forced a traveling violation and the Dons capitalized with a pair of free throws by Luke Zuffelato.
Carter then stole the ball and went in for a dunk for a 27-17 lead.
“I came into this game with the mindset of playing as hard as I can,” said Carter. “I wasn’t really worried about scoring a lot, I just wanted to have a lot of energy to pick up my team because I knew it was going to a big environment and a lot of noise.”
Gardiner ended a DP scoring drought with a tough shot inside before Santa Barbara went off for seven straight points to end the quarter. Zuffelato hit a fade-away bank shot, Graham Chapman scored on an offensive rebound after a steal by Owen Horn and Diesel Lowe buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Dons a 34-19 lead.
Carter and Zuffelato took charge in the third quarter, combining for 11 points to increase Santa Barbara’s lead to 20 (47-27). A steal by Zuffelato led to a Carter layup, Zuffelato hit a free throw, Carter scored inside and then knocked down a corner three-pointer, Zuffelato converted a three-point play and fed Brent Sharpton for a layup on a fast break.
“We have such good chemistry with all the guys playing all grown up,” said Carter of being part of strong senior class. “It’s just great to have this last year playing with all my best friends. It’s just a great experience.”
He was also fun playing in different combinations.
“As we said before, every guy contributes in his own way. It’s really, really fun to play with different lineups and different guys, because we’re all close and it’s just nice to have different mix-ups of the lineups. It’s just fun to play with everyone.”
Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos continue their three-game week on Wednesday. The Dons host Oxnard while the Chargers are home against San Marcos.