Santa Barbara rallies past rival San Marcos in boys basketball

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Dons took the Royals best shot and then rallied past their rival behind a big third quarter by star Luke Zuffelato.

The Santa Barbara High School junior scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter and Santa Barbara held on to beat the Royals 63-59 in a hotly contested Channel League game.

Zuffelato drilled 3 three-pointers in the third quarter and his last one gave Santa Barbara their first lead of the game at 44-43 and they never trailed again.

Santa Barbara led 48-45 heading into a fourth quarter.

The Dons made 9 free throws in the final quarter as the Dons improved to 5-1 in the Channel League and 13-7 overall.

San Marcos raced out to a 13-4 lead and were up 19-11 after the first quarter.

Senior Micah Jacobi scored 9 of his team-high 16 points in that first quarter.

Sophomore Koji Hefner added 15 points and the Royals led 36-31 at the half as Joe Pasternack made a three-pointer at the buzzer for San Marcos.

With Zuffelato held to just 7 first half points, the Dons Waylon Finkel and Owen Horn helped Santa Barbara stay close.

Finkel scored 9 of his 14 points before halftime and the freshman Horn sank back-to-back three-pointers in the second quarter for Santa Barbara.

Zuffelato took over in the third quarter as the Dons stayed one game behind Oxnard in the Channel League race.

San Marcos is 3-3 in league and 9-10 overall.