The Ventura Cougars pushed their score all the way to 63 on Monday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 74-63 hit to the loss column at the hands of Santa Barbara. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game last Saturday (61), Ventura still had to take the loss.
Despite the loss, Ventura still got an impressive performance from Finn Fancher, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 15 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Fancher has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Travis Valenzuela, who scored 14 points along with seven rebounds.
It was another big night for Luke Zuffelato, who scored 27 points along with six rebounds for Santa Barbara. That makes it six consecutive games in which Zuffelato has scored at least a third of Santa Barbara's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tobin Shyrock, who scored nine points along with six assists and five rebounds.
Ventura has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost four of their last five matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-11 record this season. As for Santa Barbara, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season.
Ventura will head out on the road to face off against Buena at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. As for Santa Barbara, they will be playing at home against San Marcos at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. San Marcos knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past five matches -- so hopefully Santa Barbara likes a good challenge.
