Coyotes refuse to go quietly into the night

ADAM DAVIS/Acorn Newspapers EASY TWO- CHS senior Mike Field goes up for a shot over a Harvard Westlake defender. Last Friday against Harvard Westlake, the boys' basketball team from Calabasas High outplayed the Wolverines for three quarters. Unfortunately for the Coyotes, they couldn't quite seal the deal.

Although the final score doesn't necessarily show it, Calabasas hung tough with the top-seeded team out of the Mission League before eventually losing 73-58 in North Hollywood.

Calabasas was thinking upset for the majority of the game and took a 48-45 lead into the final quarter. CHS ran out of steam soon thereafter, and Harvard Westlake went on a 19-6 run, led by eight points from Wolverine junior Renaldo Woolridge.

The son of former NBA star Orlando Woolridge, Renaldo finished with a team-high 20 points, 10 coming in the crucial fourth quarter.

"The main factor of this game is, we got tired in the fourth quarter, and they out-rebounded us, and we committed more turnovers," Calabasas head coach Jim Nielsen said. "In the end, those things hurt us."

Early in the game CHS wouldn't back down as the Coyotes jumped out to a 1611 firstquarter lead, sparked by Silvio Arie's eight points.

ADAM DAVIS/Acorn Newspapers SEASON ENDER- Calabasas guard Shane Foster goes up for the shot before Harvard Westlake's Renaldo Woolridge can get to the ball during the first round of the CIF-SS Division IAA playoffs last Friday night. Foster had 22 points in his final game as a Coyote. Harvard Westlake stayed in the hunt and led 30-29 at halftime. Calabasas got the lead back when senior Shane Foster decided to take over.

Foster scored 13 of his gamehigh 22 points in the third quarter and seemed to be carrying CHS on his shoulders. When Foster nailed his third 3-pointer of the quarter from the top of the key, the Coyotes took a 48-43 lead.

"After I hit the second of my 3-pointers that quarter, I started to bring the ball up the court myself," Foster said. "My teammates were allowing me the spacing to get good shots, and I started to make them."

Although Foster seemed to be hitting every shot he attempted, Nielsen wasn't surprised with his play.

"He is one of the top five players in the area, for sure," Nielsen said. "He played well tonight, but he has had a lot of games like this for us. I couldn't be more proud of him the way he has played this year."

Soon after Foster put the Coyotes up by five, the team started to tire. Helping Woolridge was senior Jabari Trotter, who finished with 15 points, nine of them coming in the final quarter. Junior Ryan Merkle contributed 11 points for the Wolverines.

"In the end, I think they had a deeper bench than us, and because of that we got tired quicker than they did," Foster said. "That, and they are a really big team, and we had trouble rebounding the ball against them."

Harvard Westlake had nine of its players contribute to the team's scoring total while Calabasas only had five. Besides Foster's 22, Arie finished with 15 points, Evan Smith had 10, Mike Field finished with nine and Eric Mont added two.

Harvard Westlake soon led by 13 points with under a minute remaining in the game. With no timeouts remaining for Nielsen and the season slowly ending, the Calabasas coach asked Wolverine head coach Greg Hillard if he could borrow one of his timeouts.

"I have to thank Greg for doing that on his part," Nielsen said. "I was out of timeouts, and I wanted to have the chance to tell my players what great kids they were and what a good season they had. They played tonight with a lot of heart, and I wanted them to know that."

Nielsen then turned to face the crowd and say his thanks to the team's loyal supporters.

"This is a great community, and the kids here have been great," Nielsen said. "There were no egos on the team this year, and that helped a lot. I am also appreciative to Dave Jackson, our principal, who helped this year as well. He's a real coach's principal."

Harvard Westlake ran out the clock, and Calabasas' season was over. For seniors like Field, it would be the last time they would wear the brown and gold.

"It was an amazing season, and I'm proud of every single guy on the team," Field said. "I'll always remember what good team chemistry we had and how we always stuck together."

In the locker room after the game, Foster reflected on how much first-year head coach Nielsen had helped his game.

"He helped me by giving me the green light to shoot in certain situations," Foster said. "I'll always remember his funny analogies when the team was practicing. He would take something normal and make it funny so we wouldn't forget it. He was a great coach."

The CHS seniors that will be graduating are Foster, Field, Arie, Andrew Schotz, Correy Meadows, Salle Beitollahi, Ryan Gabler, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Elijah Parris and Aaron Singer.