San Marcos boys basketball pulled out a 43-41 win in a defensive slugfest with Oxnard on Friday night in the Thunderhut.
The Royals (17-6, 8-2 Channel League) have now won five games in a row and, with Friday’s victory, claimed sole possession of second place in the Channel League ahead of the third-place Yellow Jackets (17-7, 7-3 CL). Both teams sit behind first-place Santa Barbara High (9-1 CL).
“I think losing to DP really woke us up. I think it centered us,” San Marcos head coach Matt Jordan said of his team’s hot streak. “We hit some adversity in the mid-season, and I think it’s been really good for us. I think it’s made us lock back in and forced us to be really dialed in.
“We feel the momentum, we’re happy with it. We’re really confident right now. Beating SB was a really big deal for us. Obviously, they’re a rival and they’re really good, so that was a really big deal. I think that just gave us a bunch of confidence.”
The Royals were once again led by senior standout Koji Hefner, who poured in 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while playing stellar defense on the other end of the court.
“It was a herculean effort by [Hefner],” Jordan said. “He’s played unbelievably. He won us the game tonight, and he’s the best player in the league, in my opinion.
“Koji is such an unbelievable defender that we lean on him to get stops. We lean on him to get rebounds.”
After the two sides exchanged buckets in the opening minute, the Royals rattled off seven unanswered points, capped off by a Hefner floater to take a 9-2 lead with 2:52 left in the quarter.
The San Marcos defense stood strong in the final few minutes, allowing just one more bucket in a physical battle to take an 11-4 lead into the second.
The Royals’ defense continued to flex its muscles in the second quarter, holding the Yellow Jackets to single digits once again in the eight-minute period.
However, San Marcos was having plenty of trouble of its own on the offensive end and managed just 10 points to bring the lead to 21-12 at halftime.
“[Defense] is the strength of our team, and I thought you saw that tonight. On nights where you can’t make shots, you’ve got to be able to do different things,” Jordan said.
[Defending in the half court] is the first thing we talk about before every single game. It’s what we talk about before every single practice. That’s where we hang our hat on.
Oxnard found more offensive success out of the break, chipping away at the deficit until it trimmed it all the way down to four points at 29-25 with 2:26 to go in the third.
The Royals gained a bit of momentum heading into the fourth as Hefner knocked down a pair of free throws and Brody Green hit a midrange jumper to bring the lead back up to 33-25 with one quarter to play.
“Tonight was just who was tougher. Who’s going to be tougher? Who’s going to get on more to lose balls?” Jordan said of the game’s energy. “We were super gritty.”
The Royals maintained their lead for the majority of the fourth quarter, and Hefner hit a side-step three-pointer in front of his bench to make it 42-32 with 3:41 on the clock.
However, San Marcos’ offense then went cold and Oxnard began to heat up. The Yellow Jackets knocked down a three-pointer, a putback layup and converted an and-one three-pointer while holding the Royals scoreless to trim the SM lead down to 42-41 with 34 seconds left.
On the ensuing possession, Hefner was fouled and sent to the charity stripe. He hit one of two shots, giving his team a 43-41 lead with 17 seconds left in regulation.
Oxnard used up the majority of the clock, bringing the ball up and setting up its play. The Yellow Jacket guard then tried to sneak a pass into the paint, but Hefner was there for the game-winning steal for the Royals as time expired.
“What I’m most proud of is that I think we’re learning to win in different ways. We can win if we score 70 or 43,” Jordan said. “Even in these slugfests, I think we have a lot of faith that the things we do are gonna bear out to give us a really good chance to win.”
San Marcos will go for its sixth straight victory in a home game against Pacifica on Monday at 7 p.m.