Basketball Recap: Monday's Victory Is Santa Barbara's 12th in Last 15 Outings

Santa Barbara won the last time they faced Rio Mesa, and Luke Zuffelato did his part to make sure it happened again. The Santa Barbara Dons were the clear victor by an 85-64 margin over the Rio Mesa Spartans on Monday thanks in part to Zuffelato, who dropped a double-double on 32 points and ten boards. That makes it three consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Santa Barbara's points.

Another player making a difference was Carter Battle, who posted six points in addition to 11 rebounds and five assists. Those 11 boards gave him a new career-high.

When it comes to explaining why Rio Mesa lost, don't look at Jackson Knowles. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 23 points and 11 rebounds. Knowles has become a key player for Rio Mesa: the team is 7-3 when he posts at least ten boards, but 5-6 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Gerardo Garcia, who scored 11 points.

Santa Barbara has been performing well recently as they've won 12 of their last 15 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 79.0 points per game. As for Rio Mesa, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 12-9.

Santa Barbara has already played their next game, a 72-60 victory against San Marcos on the 15th. As for Rio Mesa, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, an 80-54 win against Pacifica on the 15th.