Santa Barbara High boys basketball took control in the second half and earned a 72-60 win over rival San Marcos on Wednesday night inside a raucous Thunderhut.
With the Dons' (16-5, 7-1 Channel League) victory, they moved into sole possession of first place in the league. However, the Royals (15-5, 6-1 CL) and Oxnard (14-5, 6-1 CL) are just behind them with one less game played.
"The league is great, all of the coaches do a hell of a job," Santa Barbara High head coach Greg Zuffelato said. "Everybody thinks it's the big three but these other teams can get us, there's no night off."
"I think there are a lot of good teams in this league... I think there's a lot of teams that can give us a game," San Marcos head coach Matthew Jordan said. "For Oxnard, us and Santa Barbara it's probably going to come down to who plays better that night because we all play hard.
"[Santa Barbara] played better than us tonight, I don't necessarily think they played harder... Versus great teams, you have to play hard and well, you can't just play hard."
Both teams exchanged buckets to begin the game, but a Luke Zuffelato three-pointer off an assist from Diesel Lowe put the Dons up 7-4 with 4:55 left in the first.
After a Danny Diaz floater, Zuffelato drilled another three-pointer and Owen Horn knocked down a pair of free throws to expand the Santa Barbara High lead to 12-6 at the 3:20 mark.
The two sides went back and forth again until the Dons held a 17-12 lead with 1:28 on the clock. Santa Barbara High's Cayleb Miller then went on a personal 5-0 run to close the quarter and expand the advantage to 22-12 at the end of the first.
The Royals came out of the break with some momentum, beginning with a three-pointer from Diaz on the first possession of the quarter.
Lowe responded with a three-pointer of his own, but San Marcos then rattled off a quick 8-0 run while feeding off the energy of the Thunderhut crowd.
In that run, Diaz knocked down another deep ball, Koji Hefner hit a layup and Brody Green converted an and-one layup to cut the Santa Barbara High lead to 25-23 with 4:25 left in the half.
However, once again Lowe stepped up when the Dons needed him and hit two straight mid-range jump shots to extend the lead back out to 29-23. Lowe came up clutch all night long, ending with 18 points and six assists.
"Diesel doesn't crack under pressure and when we need a bucket he gets it, he's a great senior mature leader," Greg Zuffelato said. "Diesel is calm, cool, collected and he's been in big games."
The Royals responded back with a quick burst courtesy of an Aidan Conlan layup and another Diaz three-pointer to cut the deficit down to one point at 29-28 with one minute left in the half.
"I think we got out in transition a little more," Jordan said of his team's second-quarter push. "Santa Barbara's half-court defense was really good tonight so when we got out in transition I think we got better looks."
The Dons ended the half with back-to-back threes courtesy of Lowe and Owen Horn to give them momentum and a 35-28 lead heading into halftime.
In the first possession out of the break, Luke Zuffelato drilled a three-pointer to give Santa Barbara a 10-point lead. That shot proved to be a sign of things to come.
While San Marcos showed flashes of getting back into the game, Luke Zuffelato consistently responded with big plays on the other end to extinguish any momentum the home team was gaining.
The standout senior poured in 13 of his game-high 33 points on the quarter to help the Dons build out a 52-41 lead with one quarter to play.
"[Zuffelato] is not nervous anymore, this is his fourth time in the Thunderhut," Greg Zuffelato said. "He's used to the environment... Your fourth time playing here makes a big difference. He was ready to go."
While Luke Zuffelato led the offensive effort, Santa Barbara High's DJ Wilson was in the middle of a strong defensive attack focused on limiting Diaz, whose nine second-quarter points allowed the Royals to creep back in the game.
"The only time Danny got going was when DJ was out or he got loose on someone else," Greg Zuffelato said. "DJ was amazing, he stuck him like glue... he was committed to not let happen here what happened in football.
"We made some adjustments defensively at halftime and I challenged our guys to turn it up a little bit and not have those miscommunications that lead to open shots, and our guys responded really well."
The fourth quarter was more of the same, as Luke Zuffelato made sure that the Dons maintained the momentum with a monstrous poster dunk one minute in to silence the San Marcos faithful.
The Royals cut the deficit down to nine points at one point, but Santa Barbara High knocked down its free throws down the stretch to secure the 12-point win.
"I think we got a little tired, it's a big atmosphere and we have a lot of guys in new roles," Jordan said. "I think the atmosphere wore on us a little bit and [Santa Barbara] is an old team, a mature team and a good team.
"I thought we played incredibly hard, I thought our effort tonight was fantastic and I'm super proud of our team."
Hefner led the Royals in scoring with 19 points while Diaz dropped 14 and Conlan ended the night with 13 of his own. Hefner also hauled in 12 rebounds in the loss.
Santa Barbara will head across the country to compete in the HoopHall Classic in Massachusetts this weekend. Meanwhile, San Marcos will be on the road against Pacifica on Friday at 7 p.m.