The562’s coverage of St. Anthony athletics is sponsored by Jane & B.I. Mais, Class of 1948.
St. Anthony’s CIF-SS Division 1 playoff opener was simply about who could make more shots, and the Saints were unable to take advantage of their opportunities against a lights-out Santa Barbara team in a 62-57 loss.
“First and foremost, glory above to God for the opportunity. A lot of teams wanted to play tonight, and we were one of the teams fortunate to earn such,” said Saints coach Alan Mitchell. “We just needed to be present and our defense wasn’t. That’s what we lay our hat on, and if what you lay your hat on isn’t working for you now you’re looking like ‘now what?’”
Santa Barbara knocked down seven threes for the game including three back-to-back threes to open the first quarter. The Dons led by as much as 12 in the opening period and held a double digit lead through half.
The Dons ability to find quality looks from three was backed by their strong ability to rebound which allowed for a handful of second chance opportunities to make St. Anthony pay. On the other end, the Saints missed a handful of layups and were unable to spark any runs in the first half.
“When you get into playoff basketball you gotta dang near be perfect or lucky, and it’s no secret we didn’t rebound well,” said Mitchell. “We made them miss shots too, but we didn’t rebound. And if we make layups, we missed 10 layups in the first half and that’s 20 points, so we make seven of those and we’re up four at halftime instead of trailing.”
The Saints were able to rally back to open the second half with a 14-7 run to pull within three points, their smallest deficit of the half.
Santa Barbara relied on senior captain Luke Zuffelato to help keep its lead as the 6-foot-6 guard piled on 11 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. Mitchell said he made multiple adjustments on defense as the game went on and put an emphasis on pressuring Zuffelato.
“The benefit for him was that he was seeing over the double and making the right pass out of it,” Mitchell said of Zuffelato. “And some of their role players made some plays that we didn’t see on film. Their guys stepped up tonight.”
Santa Barbara found other key contributions from sophomore Owen Horn who knocked down four threes-pointers and had 15 points. With the win, the Dons will look ahead to their second round matchup against Canyon.
For St. Anthony, the Saints were led by Jayshawn Kibble with 13 points and Justin Blair with 12. Aman Haynes also chipped in 10 while Mikey Cortez had eight.
After the game, Mitchell had a moment with his seniors in the locker room and reflected on what he says is a special senior class. The Saints will graduate eight seniors from their roster, six of whom have been around since Mitchell was hired in 2021. Those six also won a ring with Mitchell last year when the Saints became CIF-SS Division 2AA champions.
“Darius Williams, Austin Ellis, Elijah Jackson, Mikey Cortez, Nigel Cooper, Aman Haynes, Justin Blair, those are my boys, man. And it’s not a secret, we were doubted from day one when I got the job. They were doubted, ‘too small, chunky, not athletic, couldn’t shoot.’ I was young and inexperienced, never had a head coaching job in high school, but we’ve been in the thick of it together. And honestly, man, these boys saved my life. Honestly, they saved my life. They gave me purpose.”
