#4 Diesel Lowe got off to a hot start and set the tone for Santa Barbara. | Credit: Gary Kim

The Santa Barbara High boys’ basketball team had no interest in sharing the Channel League title with its arch rival San Marcos.

A fast start turned into an avalanche of momentum for Santa Barbara. The Dons jumped out to a 39-8 halftime lead and captured the outright Channel League title with a 73-37 victory over the Royals on Monday night at J.R. Richards gymnasium.

“In the Oxnard game something clicked defensively with our intensity and communication, something we’ve been working on all year,” said Santa Barbara High coach Greg Zuffelato. “It’s a tough environment, we have all seniors, it was the perfect storm.”

San Marcos came into the game with a 21-6 overall record and had an opportunity to share the Channel league title with Santa Barbara with a victory, but could not seize the moment. 

“We just did not match their force more than anything. We couldn’t get to our spots. They were just ready to go and we weren’t,” said San Marcos coach Matthew Jordan. “I think the environment was a little too big for us tonight.”

The environment was not too big for Santa Barbara High senior Diesel Lowe, who has excelled when the lights have been brightest this season. That was especially true against San Marcos as Lowe scored the Dons’ first eight points of the game, with a fastbreak dunk sandwiched between two three-pointers, the second of which gave Santa Barbara an 8-2 lead with 6:15 remaining in the first quarter.

Santa Barbara extended its lead to 18-6 with just under a minute remaining in the first quarter on a fastbreak layup by Carter Battle. 

San Marcos continued to struggle on the offense in the second quarter as the Dons outscored the Royals 21-2 in the period. Sophomore Cayleb Miller spearheaded Santa Barbara’s second quarter surge with two three-pointers off the bench.

Luke Zuffelato was a menace defensively for Santa Barbara holding San Marcos’ leading scorer Koji Hefner to zero first half points. Hefner scored 12 points in the second half to lead San Marcos in scoring for the game, but the damage was done.

Luke Zuffelato dominated on both ends of the court against San Marcos.

In addition, Zuffelato, who recently committed to UC Santa Barbara, finished with a game-high 23 points. His fellow seniors Lowe and Battle scored 19 and 16 points respectively.

“We just held Oxnard to a season low 41 points so just bringing that same energy to this game” said Luke Zuffelato. “That’s what I’m going to bring to UCSB and what will separate me from a lot of players, my defensive mentality, my heart, my everything.”

With the regular season now complete the two teams will now prepare for the playoffs, which begin next week. Santa Barbara will likely be competing in the CIF-SS Division 2AA playoffs and San Marcos will likely be in 2A depending on how the final Southern Section rankings shake out..

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