Dons off the mark in CIF-SS Division 1 semifinal loss at Mira Costa
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. - The shots did not drop and Santa Barbara was soundly beaten 61-40 at Mira Costa in a CIF-Southern Section Division1 semifinal boys basketball game.
The Dons were coming off a thrilling quarterfinal overtime win against Mater Dei in which they made 16 three-pointers.
But against a Mustangs team that pressed the entire game, the Dons made just six three-pointers, 5 of those were by UCSB-commit Luke Zuffelato.
The game was close until the fourth quarter when the Mustangs outscored the Dons 23-10 to advance to next weekend's championship game against Los Alamitos.
"Our goal with every game is to where them down," said winning Mustangs head coach Neal Perlmutter. "You can watch the pressure on tape but it's a whole different thing when you are getting pressed all 32 minutes, we are relentless."
The Dons were familiar with the style of press that the Mustangs run as Channel League opponent Oxnard uses a similar defense.
"I was proud of how we handled the press but it did get us out of our rhythm so we didn't make shots," said Dons head coach Greg Zuffelato.
Luke Zuffelato bounced in a three-pointer late in the first quarter and then opened up the second quarter by drilling a tough baseline triple to tie the game at 14.
Mira Costa went on a 7-0 run highlighted by a put back dunk by Eneasi Piuleini who scored a game-high 19 points.
The Mustangs led 29-23 at the half and extended the lead to 33-23 early in the third quarter.
The Dons answered back as Diesel Lowe hit a floater in the lane, Zuffelato drilled a step-back three-pointer and Carter Battle stole the ball and his layup cut the deficit to 34-30.
But Mira Costa took control from there scoring the final four points of the third quarter and completely dominating the fourth quarter.
Jacob De Armas had two big dunks in the final quarter and the Dons did not score in the fourth quarter until there was less than 3 minutes left in the game.
Zuffelato led the Dons with 16 points.
Despite the loss the 26-6 Dons had already qualified for the State Tournament that begins March 4th.
"We'll break the film down, we'll go over some of the things we need to improve on but let's get ready for state," said Greg Zuffelato.
