One game was enough for the San Marcos boys basketball team to make the CIF-SS playoffs on Friday.
The Royals took care of business in their rescheduled crosstown game against Santa Barbara High, racing out to 20-point first-half lead and finishing with a 61-50 victory before a full house at the Thunderhut on Friday afternoon.
With the win, the Royals finished alone in fourth place in the eight-team Channel League at 8-6 and thus clinched an automatic playoff berth. Had they lost, they would have shared fourth place with Rio Mesa at 7-7 and played the Spartans at 8 p.m. to decide who gets the CIF berth.
“Oh, we needed it badly,” San Marcos senior guard Wyatt Miller said of winning against the Dons, who missed tying Buena for second place and finished in third in the final league standings at 10-4. “If we lost, we’d have to play another game right after this and that would have been really hard.
“All we needed to do is win to make playoffs, and we did.”
Wyatt was instrumental in the Royals roaring out to the big lead. He drove hard to the basket to score or draw fouls and his overall hustle contributed to San Marcos getting Santa Barbara out of sync.
Wyatt scored on a drive down the lane, pulled up for a short jumper and knocked down a pair of free throws, leading the Royals to a 17-5 first-quarter lead. In the second quarter, he completed a three-point play off a nice dish from freshman Koji Hefner and made a floater in the key as the lead expanded to 24 points, 41-17.
Wyatt finished as San Marcos’ leading scorer with 15 points and backcourt mate Joe Pasternack had 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter and four big free throws down the stretch.
San Marcos’ terrific first half was a reversal of the first meeting, which Santa Barbara won 63-50.
“We started out bad in the last game but we came back and played with them really well in the second half,” Wyatt recalled. “So we knew we could easily play with them. We knew we could get out to a fast start, and that’s what we did. We kept it going until the very end.”
A big difference for the Royals on Friday was the play of their defense. They swarmed all over the court and frustrated Santa Barbara.
“Our guys were ready to play tonight,” said first-year San Marcos coach James Kinzler, who took a new group players after the program won three straight league titles and got them to the CIF playoffs in a tougher Channel League. “We learned some lessons last week (in the loss at Santa Barbara). Credit to SB, they had a great season. We had to scrap and claw for anything and everything against those guys.
“I thought our guys were focused and they were hungry. They knew our season was on the line, and they were smart.”
Senior Andre McCullough set the defensive tone for the Royals, playing physical against Santa Barbara’s top scorer Luke Zuffelato, who still ended up with 25 points.
Owen Lauderdale, Miller, Hefner and Ben Treadway also made things hard for the Dons.
“They came out more physical and we just got stagnant on offense,” said Santa Barbara coach Corey Adam. “Defensively, we were missing assignments, so it was not a good first half. That’s putting it mildly.”
The Royals attacked the rim and cashed in off of offensive rebounds to keep extending their lead.
“We want to play fast, we want to play physical, and then we hit shots, said Kinzler. “I think our guys were a little more patient. I saw guys catching, seeing and then shooting on balance and (the shots) went down to start the game and that was big for us.”
San Marcos led by as many as 24 points (49-25) early in the third quarter after a 7-0 run. Miller started it with a three and then fed Micah Jacobi for a bucket after breaking Santa Barbara’s press. Pasternack hit a jumper after a slick pivot.
Besides the rivalry factor, Adam said his players knew the importance of the game in terms of league finish.
“We knew second place in league was on the line, which possibly gives us a home game (for the first round of the playoffs) Wednesday. But, for whatever reason, it was kind of the deer in the headlights, so to speak,” he said. “We just didn’t look like us out there.”
Santa Barbara started creeping back at the end of the quarter as Tobin Shyrock and Zuffelato scored consecutive baskets to make it 51-34.
Zuffelato sparked a run in the fourth quarter with a pair of threes. Jack Holdren scored on an offensive rebound, Will Harman dove for a loose ball and Carter Battle finished a drive to pull the Dons within 10 at 54-44.
San Marcos suffered a blow when it lost McCullough to his fifth foul.
After the Royals missed on a drive, Zuffelato cut the deficit to seven (54-47) on an NBA-range three-pointer.
Jack Wilson grabbed a clutch offensive rebound that the Royals turned into a free throw by Miller for a 55-47 lead with 1:05 to go.
Shyrock hit a three-pointer to make it a five-point game at 55-50.
“We played a great 12 minutes at the end and got it down to five,” said Adam. “We kept battling and battling.
“That’s playoff-style physicality. We told the guys, ‘You’re more than capable of doing that. How are we going to that at the start and be ready?’
“They’ll be ready. I have a lot of confidence in this group and they have a lot of confidence in themselves and each other.”
Santa Barbara had chance to cut the deficit to three, but missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with 58 seconds left. San Marcos rebounded and threw a long pass to Diego Reyes for a layup and a seven-point lead with 47 seconds left.
After Zuffelato missed a long three-point attempt, Pasternack finished the game for San Marcos with two perfect trips to the free-throw line.
Kinzler said he’s thrilled his players get to continue their season in the CIF playoffs.
“After where we were in December, we get to extend the season and just see what happens. We told them before the game, ‘Just go play basketball. I know you’re playing Santa Barbara, but you’re playing the game you love, the game you’ve been playing since you were 5 years old. Just go do what you need and know how to do. ’
“And they did that, so we get to keep doing that a little bit longer.”
The CIF playoff pairings will be released Sunday. San Marcos is in Division 2A and Santa Barbara in 4AA.