Buena Shakes Its Lethargy, 61-47

VENTURA —  Suffering from a severe case of tournament-itis, Buena High discovered a cure.

After a dreadful showing at the recent Ventura tournament, the Bulldogs found their Channel League boys’ basketball opener more agreeable and defeated Santa Barbara, 61-47, Wednesday night at Buena.

The Bulldogs rebounded from an 0-3 mark at the Ventura tournament--the worst tournament performance in Buena history--by rebounding.

And scoring.

And, most important, by playing defense.

The Bulldogs (6-5) held Santa Barbara (6-7) to 19 of 58 shooting (32.8%) and clamped down on standout guard Mike Garrett.

Garrett had 21 points but made only eight of 29 shots (27.6%).

Buena’s Gerard Bolden scored 14 points and succeeded in keeping Garrett off-balance.

Santa Barbara was definitely off-center in the first half. The Dons made two of 12 shots in the second quarter and trailed at halftime, 29-14.

“Fourteen points,” Buena Coach Glen Hannah said. “We usually give that up in the first four minutes.”

This time, Buena scored early.

Ceneka Shaw had 14 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots in the first half.

“He took over and got us going,” Hannah said.

Shaw finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“We didn’t keep our heads up and we weren’t playing as a team,” Shaw said of the Ventura disaster. “But we did tonight. And that’s how we’ll play the rest of the season.”

Said Hannah: “Hopefully we’ll forget the Ventura tournament. “The way we look at it, that was last year.”

Buena wasn’t the only team that had problems at a holiday tournament.

Santa Barbara dropped three of four at the Best of the West tournament.

The Dons, who have been at or near the top of the Channel League the past several years, weren’t much better Wednesday.

They made one of 16 shots from three-point range (6.3%) and offered little resistance on defense.

“They whipped us,” Santa Barbara Coach Bob Purdy said. “If we haven’t learned it by now, we may not learn it all season.”

Buena, which made 23 of 50 shots (46%), learned the lesson of balanced scoring by hitting shots from all areas of the court.

Nine players scored for the Bulldogs, who had not beaten Santa Barbara since 1993.

“We came out and ran to our tempo,” Shaw said. “Love the result.”