Calabasas boys’ basketball team continues to stymie foes

ADAOFF THE DRIBBLE—CHS guard Edwin Khaziran goes to the hooAfter escaping with a one-point victory over Simi Valley Monday night at home, the Calabasas boys’ basketball team has put themselves in position to all but wrap up the Marmonte League championship Friday night on the road vs. Thousand Oaks.

The Coyotes entered last night’s game against Royal with an 18-4 overall record and a 10-0 mark in league.

Thousand Oaks, whom CHS defeated Jan. 18 on a three-point basket with 1.2 seconds remaining, was 20-3 overall and 9-1 in the Marmonte prior to its matchup against Westlake Wednesday night.

In the jubilation immediately following his team’s 61-60 triumph over Simi Valley, Calabasas senior forward Redmond Parker made a bold prediction regarding the highly-anticipated rematch vs. Thousand Oaks.

“They want it, but we’re going to kill them,” Parker said following his 11-point performance against Simi Valley. “We’re not going to lose anything this year.”

That might be bulletin board material for Thousand Oaks, but at the same time, Parker has a handful of reasons to feel confident.

Prior to last night’s game, CHS had reeled off nine consecutive victories. The Coyotes have held their opponents to 48.3 points per game during the winning streak and have allowed 60 points in a game only once during that stretch.

Calabasas hasn’t dropped a league game since losing to Simi Valley Jan. 28, 2005.

“We never want to lose a game,” senior forward Ryan Delgizzi said. “It would be nice to go undefeated, but if we lose, it’s no big deal. The ultimate goal is to win league and to win CIF.”

In order to accomplish those goals, the Coyotes will need to pick up their game offensively.

Against Simi Valley, CHS hit 23-of-58 shots (39.6 percent) from the field. Head coach Russell White said his team’s getting good looks at the basket on a consistent basis. The problem, White said, has been converting open opportunities.

“Our big guys have got to finish better for us if we’re going to contend,” White said. “Those guys have to finish better for us against T.O.

“I think we’re getting good shots almost every time down the floor,” the coach said. “We’re just not making them. We’ve got to work on it. We’ve got to finish. We’ve got to finish better.”

Following his team’s defeat, Simi Valley senior guard Lorne Bell said the best way to beat CHS is to pressure the Coyote guards and make them win the game.

“You need to make sure they don’t have an easy time getting (the ball) into their post guys because they’re so big,” Bell said. “Make it hard to get the ball into the post, you have to start there.”

Calabasas has received most of its scoring this year from a trio of senior post players—Mark Einhorn (11.8 ppg), Delgizzi (11.4 ppg) and Mike Aguilar (10.1 ppg). After that, the team’s individual scoring outputs drop off drastically.

Aguilar said the Coyote shooters have to remain confident even when their shots aren’t falling, adding that the CHS defense should keep them in every game from here on out.

“We have (faith) in our defense and know our offensive shots will start to go in,” Aguilar said.

The Coyotes will need a lot of shots to drop Friday night if they want to take down Thousand Oaks in the Lancers’ gym.

Delgizzi said he expects the atmosphere to be electric.

“It’s going to be the craziest game of the year,” Delgizzi said. “They have a smaller gym and it’s going to be packed. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to it.”

Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.