Santa Barbara High’s boys basketball season ended on Saturday night in a 64-31 loss to Chaminade in the second round of the CIF State Regional Division-3 Tournament.
Chaminade (24-6) advances to face Brea Olinda in the regional semifinals on Tuesday. The State Championship game is scheduled for March 28.
Santa Barbara High finishes its season with a record of 26-4. The recipe that got them the Channel League championship wasn’t mixing on Saturday as league MVP Jack Baker was held to just two points. As a team, the sharp-shooting Dons were 4-for-31 from 3-point land.
Ben Clay led Santa Barbara with seven points.
Chaminade, which played in the Southern Section’s Open Division, led 34-15 at halftime.
“Very tough matchup. Chaminade is the real deal,” reported Dons assistant coach Andy Gil. “First half we kept it close – got a ton of good looks, we just could not buy a basket.
“We played hard, just not our night.”
The Dons will graduate much of their core, including Baker, Noah Burke, Isaiah Tapia, David Trujillo, Eli Hale and Bubby Vernon.
“We are very thankful for our seniors and blessed for the season we had,” Gil continued. “First state basketball win in over 20 years. Our seniors were fantastic all season. Twenty-six wins is a tremendous mark and we just ran into some huge guys in Chaminade.”
