Santa Barbara High played basketball Friday like it was on a mission to reach the final of its tournament.
The Dons bolted out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter, continued to dominate play and routed Canoga Park, 69-44, in the semifinals of the Santa Barbara Holiday Classic at J.R Richards Gym.
Top-seeded Santa Barbara (10-2) will play for the championship against Flintridge Prep at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Flintridge Prep (7-3) pulled away from second-seeded Troy in the first semifinal, 77-65.
Noah Burke started the game, and coach David Bregante’s move paid off as the junior guard scored nine points to get the Dons off and rolling in the first quarter. He drew fouls on drives to the baskets, helping the team reach the bonus by the 3:34 mark of the period.
As Santa Barbara continued to get to the free-throw line and dominate the shorter Hunters on the boards, the frustration mounted for Canoga Park coach David Wilson. He picked up a technical foul at the 2:44 mark of the second quarter and was hit with a second technical and ejected at 4:10 of the third quarter.
The Dons led 43-26 after Emilio Gonzalez sank the two free throws following the second technical foul.
The big lead allowed Bregante to rest his starters for Saturday’s championship against a strong Flintridge Prep squad.
“We’re going to have our hands full tomorrow, Flintridge Prep is tough,” Bregante said. “We’re going to have trouble matching up with them. We’re going to have some big-time matchup problems.”
Santa Barbara had the matchup advantage against Canoga Park.
Matt Wagonhurst and Gonzalez shared scoring honors for the Dons with 12 points apiece, while Burke finished with 11 points and Jeff Paschke nine. Santa Barbara shot 54 percent for the game, making 20 of 37 from the floor.
“Matt had a tremendous game, he played really well for us,” Bregante said of Wagonhurst. “A lot of kids stepped up. Noah played really well. He did a great job on their No. 2 (Andre Almond); he was a good player.”
The Dons dominated the Hunters on the boards, outrebounding them 43-24. Gonzalez and Paschke led the team with seven rebounds each, while Jack Baker grabbed six.
Almond scored 22 points to lead Canoga Park.
Flintridge Prep 77, Troy 65
The play of Flintridge Prep guard Robert Cartwright in the fourth quarter showed why Division 1 teams are recruiting him. The 6-2 junior took over the game, scoring 14 of his 20 points in the quarter to help the Rebels pull away from Troy, which narrowed a 17-point deficit (50-33) to four points (58-54).
Cartwright made a couple of dazzling plays in the quarter. On the first one, he made a quick baseline cut and received a pass from Kyle Hamane for a reverse layup and a three-point play. After a Hamane steal led to a basket by Andrew Tsangeos, Cartwright pulled off a slick, no-look pass inside to Chad Cosse for a layup, capping an 11-3 run to put the Rebels ahead 67-56.
Jedrick Eugenio hit four 3-pointers and also scored 20 points for Flintridge Prep, Tyler Weakland added 16 points and Cosse scored 14 points.
Troy got 19 points from Johnny Bayeh and 15 from Ben Stiver.
