The guy with the black eye was a dead-eye shooter for the Santa Barbara High boys basketball team Friday night
Bolden Brace showed no ill effects of a knock he suffered in a collision during Wednesday’s San Marcos game as he buried five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Dons to a 74-49 rout over Dos Pueblos before a good crowd at JR Richards Gym.
The game was the start of the second round of Channel League play. Santa Barbara is 5-0 in league and 15-2 overall. Dos Pueblos, which had won its last two league games, falls to 2-3 and 6-10.
Brace knocked down a trio of 3-pointers in the second quarter and the Dons made six in the first half en route to a 29-20 halftime lead.
“Maybe it woke him up,” quipped Santa Barbara coach David Bregante said about the shot Brace took under his eye.
“I guess it was good for me,” Brace said with a smile. “In warm-ups I was feeling it. I missed my first one and I just kept shooting, and luckily they were going in.”
Brace made 5 of 8 from beyond the arc and the team sank 13 of 31.
“He played great, he’s a great shooter,” said Bregante of Brace, who also was sharp at the free-throw line, making 5 of 6. “We have some really great shooters on this team.”
The Dons not only shoot the ball well from the 3-point line, they shot it well from parking-lot distance. And that makes it tough for defenses.
“We told the guys they had to go ’heels on three’, which means further outside the 3-point line,” DP coach Joe Zamora said. “We didn’t get out far enough and we didn’t get out quick enough and as a result they got good looks. That’s hard to defend when you got guys who can shoot the ball from that far out.”
Isaiah Tapia made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points, Noah Burke and Bubby Vernon each scored 10 points and Chris Wagonhurst tossed in nine for the Dons.
Jack Baker, the team’s leading scorer this season, didn’t have any points, the first time in his high school career he went scoreless in a game.
But Baker still had an impact on the game. He grabbed 14 rebounds, had four assists and four blocked shots.
Said Bregante: “Jack doesn’t have to score for us. How many shots did he block? How many rebounds did he get? How many layups did they miss because they’re worried about him in there? His presence is probably worth 15-18 points a game for us.”
Dos Pueblos was still in the game after three quarters, trailing 46-34. But Santa Barbara blew things open in the fourth quarter with a 15-4 run. Brace, Chris Wagonhurst and Buddy Vernon hit 3-pointers during the surge.
Brandon Burkhardt scored 12 points, Jayson Williams had nine and Dayne Gardiner tallied eight for Dos Pueblos.
