What a difference two weeks can make.
After getting routed by San Marcos in the first-round of Channel League play, the Santa Barbara High boys basketball team turned the tables on its crosstown rival in the rematch at a frenzied J.R. Richards Gym.
The Dons held the Royals’ 6-foot-9 Jackson Stormo to eight points in a dominating defensive performance for a 65-47 win on Friday night. The result puts Santa Barbara (14-10, 4-2) in second place in the standings while San Marcos (18-8) falls to third place at 4-3.
“We were really, really, hard on ourselves before the game,” said Santa Barbara senior guard Ben Brown. “We said there was no way we were going to get outplayed or out-toughened, and we played with that mentality and it changed the game. It was a great team win in front of a great crowd.”
After falling behind 22-18 early in the second quarter, the Dons hit their stride, turning a four-point deficit into a 15-point lead after a 22-3 run that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Sophomore Aiden Douglas hit three three-pointers in a row to close out the quarter, in which he scored 14 of his game high 17 points.
“We were preparing for this game for about a week,” he said. “We had our big guys pretend to be Stormo and we were all over them.”
The Dons kept rolling in the second half, outscoring San Marcos 18-10 in the third quarter, and 18-13 in the fourth. Brown and Anthony Trujillo came on strong in the half to close out the game, scoring 11 and 12 points, respectively.
San Marcos struggled to get things going offensively all night long, as Stormo was hounded by Santa Barbara defenders. Thomas Hantgin picked up some of the scoring slack with 13 points, while Ryan Godges chipped in nine.
“We were trying to stop Stormo and Godges and make their other players beat us and it worked,” claimed Douglas, who described the mood in the locker room after the game as “crazy.”
Santa Barbara’s stiff defense held the normally hot-shooting Royals to only four made three-pointers on 22 attempts.
“We were more aggressive overall,” said Santa Barbara head coach Dave Bregante. “We were disappointed with how we played in the first game This team has got a lot of pride. They have a lot of heart, and I’m really proud of them.”
San Marcos coach Landon Boucher said his team didn’t match the intensity of the Dons.
“Our defense was not intense enough and Santa Barbara was able to do what they are good at,” Boucher said. “They were more intense than us, they played harder than us, and they beat us in almost every aspect.”
With two games remaining in Channel League play compared to one for San Marcos, the Dons control their own destiny in the race for second place. They host Dos Pueblos on Tuesday and play at Ventura in the regular-season final on Thursday.
San Marcos can tie for second place with a win over Buena on Tuesday and a Santa Barbara loss in one of their final two games.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.