Hot shooting from three-point range has been a trademark of the Santa Barbara High boys’ basketball team on its run to the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals, but that strength was a weakness on Saturday against Mira Costa.
The Dons went cold offensively as Mira Costa applied constant pressure and pulled away late for 61-40 victory on Saturday night.
“I was proud of the way we handled the press, but it did get us out of our rhythm so we didn’t make shots,” said Santa Barbara High coach Greg Zuffelato. “They did a good job of getting us out of rhythm.”
After making 16 three-pointers in a, 75-70, quarterfinal victory over Mater Dei, Santa Barbara was held to 6 three-pointers against Mira Costa and 17 points total in the second half.
“Trust me I lost a lot of sleep thinking about how many threes they are going to hit after they hit 16 three-pointers against Mater Dei. I was nervous all day,” said Mira Costa coach Neal Permutter. “Our goal with every game is to wear them down. You can watch the pressure on tape, but it’s a whole different thing when you’re getting pressed for 32 minutes and we’re relentless and playing nine guys.”
Santa Barbara hung tough in the first half. A three-pointer by Luke Zuffelato cut the Dons’ deficit 14-11 with 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Zuffelato followed that up with another three-pointer off the dribble that tied the score at 14 apiece with 7:18 remaining in the second quarter.
However, Mira Costa responded with a 7-0 run capped off by a three-point play by Eneasi Piuleini that increased the Mustangs’ lead to 21-14.
Santa Barbara bounced back with a 5-0 run on a three-pointer by Owen Horn that was assisted by Zuffelato, cutting the Santa Barbara deficit to 21-19.
Mira Costa went into the locker room at halftime with a 29-23 lead, which was identical to the six-point deficits Santa Barbara faced in the second round and quarterfinals at halftime.
In the third quarter, Santa Barbara cut its deficit to 34-30 on a steal and fastbreak layup by Carter Battle with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter, but the Dons did not score again until 2:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, which was over eight minutes of game time.
That long drought ended up being the difference in the game. Santa Barbara was outscored 23-10 in the fourth quarter.
“That press is designed to get people to do things they don’t normally do,” Greg Zuffelato said. “In the second half that happened more often than not.”
Luke Zuffelato led Santa Barbara with 16 points, including five of the Dons’ six three-pointers. Battle chipped in eight points despite struggling with foul trouble throughout the contest.
Piuleini led all scorers with 19 points including several thunderous dunks. McCarthy Bedner added 16 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter.
Mira Costa will face Los Alamitos in the CIF-SS Division 1 Championship game at the Toyota Center in Ontario next Saturday. Santa Barbara will discover its matchup in the CIF State Tournament next Sunday.
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