Luke Zuffelato scored 29 points and hit a clutch three-pointer to tie the game for Santa Barbara High, but the Dons came out on the short end in overtime at Buena, falling 70-64 in Channel League game.
The Dons battled back from a 13-point deficit in the third quarter and took a four-point lead in the fourth quarter.
“Overall, our effort was really good but we had some execution errors on both sides of the ball that were somewhat uncharacteristic of us. Credit to Buena’s play as some of those errors were caused by what they were doing,” said Santa Barbara coach Corey Adam. “In the end, we gained some valuable experience going to overtime on the road in a tough environment against a really good team.”
Carter Battle had a solid game for the Dons, scoring 15 points and making good plays at the defensive end. Finn Whipps, Will Harman and Owen Debusk provided a spark off the bench in the third-quarter comeback.
The loss drops Santa Barbara to 5-2 in league and 11-10 overall. Buena is 6-2, 19-3.
Zane Carter scored with 24 points to lead the Bulldogs, while Josh Ullegue had 16 points and Colin Guenther contributed 11 points.