Sensational season ends for Santa Barbara with second round lopsided loss at Sierra Canyon
CHATSWORTH, Calif. - With each early basket the Sierra Canyon bench was shouting "This ain't Santa Barbara, this ain't Santa Barbara."
Powerhouse Sierra Canyon avenged a late December loss in Santa Barbara with an emphatic 78-45 win over the Dons in a CIF-State Division 1 second round playoff game in boys basketball.
The home Trailblazers scored the first 14 points of the game and the Dons never threatened as they end a terrific season 27-7.
Dons star and UCSB-commit Luke Zuffelato was held to just five points in the rematch after scoring a game-high 31 points which included a buzzer-beating three-pointer which stunned Sierra Canyon.
Santa Barbara senior Carter Battle tallied a team-high 18 points.
(Cartle Battle knocks down a jumper. Entenza Design).
The Dons trailed 19-8 after the first quarter and 39-22 at half.
DJ Wilson scored 8 of his 11 points in the third quarter as the Dons taliied 18 points in that quarter but still trailed 55-40 heading into the fourth quarter.
(DJ Wilson made 3 three-pointers in the game. Entenza Design).
Santa Barbara was held to just 5 fourth quarter points with Battle scoring accounting for all five.
Bryce Cofield scored a game-high 19 points for Sierra Canyon.
With just a couple of minutes left in the game the Dons took out their senior starters so that they could get one last ovation for a remarkable season.
The 2024-'25 season included a Channel League title, wins over traditional powerhouses Sierra Canyon and Mater Dei(CIF-SS D1 quarterfinal) along with four total playoff wins competing in division 1 in both the CIF-SS and the CIF-State playoffs.
