The reserves provided a big lift for Santa Barbara High’s boys basketball team in a Channel League game at Ventura.
Chris Wagonhurst came off the bench to score a team-high 12 points and Eli Hale made big plays on defense to lead the Dons to a 59-48 victory.
“Our bench was the difference tonight,” Santa Barbara assistant coach Andy Gil said. “Eli Hale and Chris Wagonhurst gave us a tremendous boost off the bench.”
Hale deflected six Ventura passes and started the Dons’ fast break. The team had 11 steals and nine deflections.
Wagonhurst hit a pair of 3-pointers and le a balanced scoring attack. Noah Burke had nine points and Andrew Fay, David Trujillo and Isaiah Tapia each scored eight points.
Jack Baker didn’t have a big night scoring-wise but he still had a big impact, blocking four shots and grabbing nine rebounds
Dustin Houck scored 12 points to lead Ventura.
“We kept Ventura in the game by putting them on the line 22 times compared to our five attempts,” said Gil.
The Dons take a 2-0 league record (8-1 overall) into the holiday break.
