Luke Zuffelato’s Buzzer-Beater Lifts Santa Barbara to Upset of Powerhouse Sierra Canyon

Before his senior season began Luke Zuffelato was already an all-time Santa Barbara High basketball great, but after leading the Dons to an upset of Southern Section powerhouse Sierra Canyon on a buzzer-beater Monday night his legend continues to grow.

Santa Barbara trailed Sierra Canyon 74-72 With 2.8 seconds remaining when D.J. Wilson launched an inbounds pass to the other end of the court for Zuffelato, who took one dribble and hoisted a three-pointer off one leg that banked through the net sending J.R. Richards Gymnasium into hysteria.

“Walking into it I was like if I get this ball it’s going to go in,” Luke Zuffelato said. “We ran the Christian Laettner Duke play. The down screen on the other side, I caught it and I just threw it up.”

Zuffelato finished with a game-high 31 points, including six three-pointers. The Dons relied heavily on his shot making to stay afloat against a physically superior Sierra Canyon team and he delivered in the clutch throughout the contest.

“It’s amazing the grit that this team has, all 18 of us, everybody contributes in their way,” said Luke Zuffelato of the victory. “They’re a great team, but we battled and we got it done.”

The Dons got off to a great start and senior point guard Diesel Lowe led the charge early in the game. Lowe scored Santa Barbara’s first nine points of the game with a couple floaters around the rim before draining a three-pointer that gave Santa Barbara a 9-6 lead midway through the first quarter.

With Santa Barbara leading 13-12, Luke Zuffelato gathered a loose ball and knocked down his first three-pointer of the game with a lightning quick release.  That shot increased the Dons’ lead to 16-12 with one minute remaining in the first quarter.

The two teams went back and forth in the second quarter. Sierra Canyon took a 31-28 lead on a three-point play by Chris Nwuli. However, Zuffelato came right back with a three-point bomb to even the score at 31 with 2:25 remaining before halftime.

Santa Barbara senior guard Carter Battle scored ten of his 14 points in the second quarter and his three-pointer gave the Dons a 34-33 lead with 1:50 remaining in the period. After Bryce James knocked down his third three-pointer of the first half, Zuffelato answered with his fourth three-pointer to put Santa Barbara ahead 37-36 at halftime.

The third quarter was dominated by Sierra Canyon forward Bryce Cofield, who scored 17 of his 21 points in the period. Sierra Canyon outscored Santa Barbara 26-21 in the third quarter and took a 62-58 lead going into the fourth quarter after a put-back by Cofield as the third quarter buzzer sounded.

The Trailblazers increased their lead to 66-60 on a driving layup with just under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter But a three-pointer by Santa Barbara freshman Brent Sharpton followed by a floater by Lowe cut the Santa Barbara deficit to 68-65 with 3:45 remaining in the game.

Lowe came through again in the clutch with a three-pointer that cut the Santa Barbara deficit to 71-70 with 20 seconds remaining.

With the game tied at 72-72 and the clock running down Gavin Hightower drove to the rim and finished a contested layup to put Sierra Canyon ahead 74-72 with 2.8 seconds remaining forcing a Santa Barbara timeout to draw up the final sequence.

The final play will forever live in Santa Barbara lore.

“Sierra Canyon is a great team and they’re going to put it all together, but they are going through some stuff right now watching the Dougherty Valley game that I thought we could take advantage of,” said Santa Barbara High coach Greg Zuffelato. “We stepped on the court not knowing that we were going to win, but knowing that we would have a chance.”