Oak Park stays unbeaten in Tri-Valley

ADAM DAVIS/The Acorn BIG WIN--Pete Winningham of Oak Park goes up for a layup against Fillmore last week. Oak Park won the game handily, 81-33.

The Oak Park boys’ basketball team under second-year coach Ed Chevalier went through its Tri-Valley League schedule 8-0 (19-6 overall). In their final two league and regular season games last week, the Eagles defeated Fillmore, 81-33, and St. Bonaventure, 67-40.

In the win over Fillmore, junior forward Ryan Klein scored 28 points and pulled down 18 rebounds while senior guard Pete Winningham added 25 points and senior center Mike Testan grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked six shots. Against St. Bonaventure, Winningham led with 24 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, while Klein added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Chevalier was asked what’s the secret to his team’s success?

"A lot of unselfishness and a lot of hard work," he said. "A lot of team-type stuff. We’re pretty defensively oriented and most of our stuff comes off of our defense. We’ve done a nice on the boards. We try to take care of the basic things and we think the rest of it will take care of itself."

ADAM DAVIS/The Acorn A REASON FOR AN UNDEFEATED SEASON--Ryan Klein of Oak Park goes up for two against Fillmore last week. Oak Park won, 81-33. The Eagles went undefeated in league, won the Tri-Valley championship and were looking forward to the playoffs.

Did he know from Day One that this would be a good team after losing three starters last year?

"We had a couple of pretty good kids to build on, Pete (Winningham) and Ryan (Klein) and then the rest of the guys have come along well. We felt from the beginning that we’d be alright," Chevalier said.

The Eagle coach also talked about the leadership qualities of his players.

"He’s a great leader by example," Chevalier said of Winningham. "He’s one of the hardest working guys that we have at practice. And he’s become more vocal in his leadership, too."

Of the 6-foot-5 Klein, Chevalier said, "I think he provides more leadership just by his work on the boards. He’s come a long way in terms of his practice habits, from the first day last year."

The Eagle coach also said Testan and senior guard Kyle Daley have provided leadership.

"We thought he’d be a good player last year, but he was hurt for virtually the whole year," Chevalier said of Testan. "So we’re not surprised there … And Kyle Daley’s done a nice job as a senior, too, in terms of steadying the ship and making everything work."

The Oak Park coach said he hasn’t been surprised by Winningham’s offense. "No surprises there. He (Winningham) can really play. He’s a gifted offensive player and defensively he’s doing better as well."

Gavin Ketchum leads a contingent of four sophomores—including Ryan Buckley, Jeremy Davis and Blake Wildt—who join Casey Webb, a junior forward, in adding depth to the Eagles. Ketchum actually gets the starting nod at one of the forward spots.

Winningham expected to win, but maybe not this often.

"We lost three starters. We only had me and Klein coming back," Winningham said. "We thought we would win league, but we didn’t expect to do as well in the regular season in some of the tournaments because we play pretty good competition."

Winningham said the Eagles have fewer threats offensively but have bolstered their performance on the defensive end of the court, compared to last year. "We don’t have as many scoring weapons, but we don’t give up a lot of points," he said.

The season wasn’t a total surprise because the players are basically the same as those that comprised a JV team that set a school record with 20 wins two years ago. And Klein expected an improvement over last year’s varsity season.

"I thought we’d be better, actually, this year. Last year we didn’t play much as a team," Klein said. "This year, we’re more of a whole team together and we depend more on each other."

How does Klein think the postseason will go? "I expect us to go pretty far. We have a chance to win the whole thing, but I’m not looking that far ahead," Klein said. "We played the top teams in our division already—in tournaments—and we’ve done fine against them, so I’m not afraid."

Chevalier said the Eagles are pumped to be undefeated in league and are ready for the playoffs. "In a real quiet way that’s been our goal all season long," he said of being unbeaten in league. "That’s how we wanted to finish."

About the postseason, the coach added, "We’re excited. The kids want to go. We want to get there and take care of some things."

The Eagles will be tested by having moved up to Division IIIA from Division IVAA last year.