SANTA BARBARA HOLIDAY CLASSIC: Lights out for Dons

DENNIS BATEMAN, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

December 28, 2006 8:14 AM

Mother Nature turned out the lights well before the party was over at the Santa Barbara Holiday Classic.

The high winds that whipped through the county Wednesday caused numerous power outages that interrupted tournament play. When a prolonged power outage threatened to force cancellation of games, officials and coaches worked quickly to move action from Santa Barbara to Dos Pueblos High School. After a one and a half hour delay, play was resumed for the final quarter of the Oxnard-Corona del Mar game.

"With the help of parents and fans, we were able to get the gym ready in about 15 to 20 minutes," said Dos Pueblos head coach Joe Zamora.wer outages also disrupted Gold Division games at Carpinteria High, forcing the cancellation of games between Burbank Burroughs and East Bakersfield and a matchup between Costa Mesa and Laguna Blanca.

Green Division scores from Wednesday include Oxnard 62, Corona del Mar 46; Pasadena 52, Lincoln 49; Bishop Diego 55, Agoura 46; San Marcos 58, Venice 46; Saugus 67, Carpinteria 59; Upland 53, West Torrance 48.

Today's schedule for Green Division games at Santa Barbara High School: Agoura vs. Venice at 10 a.m.; Carpinteria vs. West Torrance at 11:30 a.m.; Bishop Diego vs. San Marcos at 1 pm.; Saugus vs. Upland at 2:30 p.m.; Lincoln (WA) vs. Santa Barbara at 4 p.m.; Corona del Mar vs. Palisades at 5:30 p.m.; Pasadena vs. Santa Monica at 7 p.m.; and Oxnard vs. Dos Pueblos at 8:30 p.m.

GREEN DIVISION

SANTA MONICA 68,

SANTA BARBARA 55

Roberto Nelson was red hot for the Dons, but Santa Barbara was undone by an ice cold third quarter in which they scored only two points and made no field goals in the 68-55 loss to the 12-1 Vikings. The Dons' sophomore star had 36 points and converted all nine of his team's three-pointers, breaking a school record held by current Washington State Cougar Taylor Rochestie.

"We still need to figure out what happened there in that third quarter," said head coach Chris Hantgin, whose team lost for the first time in 11 games. "We missed some shots, but that's more a credit to Santa Monica's defense. They stayed with us early and took over in that second half."

Ross McMains scored eight points for Santa Barbara (12-1). The Vikings had four players score in double digits, led by Bryan Louff's 14 points. It was Louff's jump shot as time ran out in the second quarter that put Santa Monica on top for a lead that they never relinquished.

The Vikings advance to the tournament semifinals against Pasadena at 7 p.m., while the Dons are matched up against the Lincoln Abes at 4 p.m. in a consolation round game.

SAN MARCOS 58, VENICE 46

Skylar Slayman celebrated his 18th birthday in spectacular fashion, scoring 20 points to lead the Royals to the bounceback win over the Gondoliers. San Marcos, which lost to Pasadena the previous day, led throughout and had a 20-point lead through most of the fourth quarter.

"We did a pretty good job of running the ball and playing defense," said head coach Jarrod Bradley. "I'm happy about the way we played this time."

Slayman also led the team with three three-point shots while Trevor Hopkins scored 11 points and two three-pointers. San Marcos is set to play Bishop Diego at 1 p.m., while Venice plays Agoura at 10 a.m.

DOS PUEBLOS 68, PALISADES 59

Julyan Stone's 20 points led the way for the Chargers, who dominated the first half but had to withstand a furious rally from the Dolphins. Leading 37-14 at the end of the first half, Dos Pueblos gave up 45 points in the second half. Palisades was led by Brian Barner's 15 points. Bo Rodriguez had 12 points for the Chargers, who will play Oxnard in a tournament semifinal at 8:30 p.m., while Palisades is set to play against Corona del Mar at 5:30 p.m.

BISHOP DIEGO 55, AGOURA 46

Ryan Aijian's triple-double propelled the Cardinals to the win. Trailing 32-28 at the beginning of the second half, Bishop overome Agoura's 22-point second quarter, as Aijian scored 29 points and led the team with 12 rebounds.

"Ryan had a very solid game," said Cardinals assistant coach Ben Rivera. "We went to a 2-3 zone that shut them down inside."

Rivera also praised the inside play of Christian and Scott Winnewisser for helping to thwart the Chargers on offense. Bishop will play today against San Marcos at 1 p.m.

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