Johnny Manzo and his ailing knee were having a rough night.
The San Marcos senior had just two points and wasn’t at full speed. Then he stepped to the free-throw line with 1.2 seconds to go and buried one as San Marcos staved off a big boys basketball upset at the hands of Santa Barbara High on Friday, 43-42 at the SBCC Sports Pavilion.
The defending Channel League champs came into the game with a tournament title already under their belt and and 8-2 record. The Dons, meanwhile, are coming off of a one-win season last year and were 2-7 heading into the game.
“Records don’t matter in this game,” said San Marcos junior Thayer White, who led all scorers with 16 points. “Both teams always come out and play hard, and that’s exactly how this game was.”
Santa Barbara’s fans were going nuts when their team took a 41-40 lead on an Andy Busch lay-up with 2:06 to play after trailing by seven at 38-31 with 5:59 to go. A free-throw from Caleb Hale extended the Dons’ lead to 42-40 at the 2:01 mark, but White scored on the baseline with 1:20 left to tie it up.
A missed jumper by the Dons gave the ball back to the Royals (9-2, 1-1 Channel League) with 17 ticks to go. Manzo lost his dribble and attempted a pass which was deflected back to him. He then drove in and drew contact to get to the line. He made the first and missed the second intentionally. The Dons (2-8, 0-2) called an immediate timeout and had nine-tenths of a second remaining but couldn’t pull off a miracle at the buzzer.
As is the case in most close games, free throws made the difference. The Dons made just seven on 17 attempts, going 1-for-5 in the fourth quarter. San Marcos, meanwhile, was 12-for-18. A key to the Dons sticking around was San Marcos’ uncharacteristic struggles from beyond-the-arc, as White nailed the visitors’ only trey of the game in the first quarter. Santa Barbara made five on the night.
“When we don’t hit outside shots like tonight, it’s gonna be really close,” said Royals head coach Jarrod Bradley. “They did a great job running their offense against our defense, but ultimately it came down to Johnny. He really made a play when we needed him to.”
The Royals had success when they were able to get the ball inside to White and Christian Mkpado. White pulled down 10 boards on the night and Mkpado had 15 points and six rebounds.
“Thayer was a man-child in there, and Christian did a really good job. They’re strong and they can get up,” said Santa Barbara coach Chris Hantgin.
With leading scorer Daniel Marshall in early foul trouble, the Dons were surprisingly led by sophomore Brendan Fay, who had 11 points after being called up from the JV squad just a week ago. Despite the loss, Hantgin called the game a “big step” for the program.
The Royals led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter after trailing for most of the period. Spencer Johnson opened the second quarter with a tip-in plus a foul to make it 16-12, and despite some cold shooting Santa Barbara managed to hang around, heading into the locker room down by a bucket, 22-20.
Emilio Gonzalez opened the second half with a 3-pointer to put the Dons up 23-22, but Mkpado took over in the post and and scored seven points in under two minutes, forcing a Dons timeout with the Royals up 29-23. Fay hit a 3-pointer after the timeout to cut the lead in half, and a bank by Marshall put the Dons within one at 32-21 after three quarters.
San Marcos opened the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run but the Dons wouldn’t go away as it stayed close to the end.
SAN MARCOS 43, SANTA BARBARA 42
San Marcos…13 9 10 11 — 43
Santa Barbara…12 8 11 11 — 42
SAN MARCOS — Manzo 3, Johnson 5, CaRidenour 4, Mkpado 15, White 16. Totals 15 12-18 43.
SANTA BARBARA — Aronson 3, EGonzalez 5, Molina 2, Hale 1, Marshall 8, Busch 10, Fay 11. Totals 15 7-17 42.
3-point goals — SM 1 (White), SB 5 (Aronson 1, Gonzalez 1, Fay 2, Marshall 1). Total fouls — SM 16, SB 16. Fouled out — none.
Team records — SM 9-2, 1-1 Channel League, SB 2-8, 0-2.
