Chargers defeated by Thousands Oaks in key rematch

Acorn Sports Writer


HANDLING THE PRESSURE--Jeff Delson of Agoura drives vs.Thousand Oaks.T.O. won the game, avenging an earlier loss. MIKE COONS/The Acorn

HANDLING THE PRESSURE–Jeff Delson of Agoura drives vs.Thousand Oaks.T.O. won the game, avenging an earlier loss. MIKE COONS/The Acorn

The Thousand Oaks boys’ basketball team left nothing to chance in their rematch with Agoura last Wednesday.


After having been defeated early in the Marmonte League season, 60-55 vs. the Chargers, the Lancers came out on fire, hitting their first six shots to ignite an 80-47 win.


For Agoura, it was the second loss in league play and it dropped the Chargers to 6-2 on the season, still good for second place, but behind the first-place Lancers, who easily beat Royal last Friday, 89-48, to improve to 7-1 in league and 17-4 overall.


In the big showdown with Agoura (also 17-4 at the beginning of this week) in a game played at Thousand Oaks, the Lancers were clearly the hungrier team.


With the early score 12-8 in favor of T.O., the Lancers scored eight straight points to gain a 20-8 advantage. They led 24-13 at the end of the first quarter, and after running off 10 straight points early in the second quarter and beginning the period with a 17-3 spurt, T.O. took a commanding halftime lead of 48-22.


For this contingent of T.O. Lancers, though, half of a masterpiece was still an incomplete picture.


"There was no jubilance in the lockerroom at halftime," said Thousand Oaks Coach Rich Endres. "I asked them, ‘Is this good enough?’ They said, ‘No.’ They wanted to push forward and continue to play hard."


Dave Anderson, the T.O. starting point guard who scored 13 points and had three 3-pointers in the win, agreed that he and his teammates weren’t satisfied at intermission.


"We had a little extra lockerroom activity and that got us fired up," said Anderson. "We came back out and shot really well and played really well."


Anderson said T.O. might have taken Agoura for granted in the first meeting of the two teams, which is something he said can’t be done against the talented Chargers.


"They played extremely well at their place and we took it kind of lightly. They surprised us," Anderson said.


In avenging the earlier loss, Thousand Oaks built a 30-point lead, 63-33, after three quarters as Kyle Kegley scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half to finish right behind game-high scorer Ben Olson who had 20.


Starting guard K.C. Myers, who scored eight of his 12 points in the first quarter and seemed to come up with as many loose balls as points on the night, said the Lancers were psychologically ready for the game.


"We put in a lot of preparation," Myers said. "Not so much physical work, but a lot of mental work on the court. A lot of review of what we wanted to accomplish. And we did exactly what we wanted. We got them into foul trouble early and we took them out of their zone defense."


Though Anderson and Myers said they and their teammates were pumped for the start of the game and remained that way after the halftime break, Endres said he doesn’t try to give Vince Lombardi-Knute Rockne-like pep talks before the game or at the half.


"As a coach I don’t believe in so-called ‘fired-up,’" Endres said. "We try not to get too high, too excited, too up. From there, there’s only one place to go and that’s down. We talk about playing basketball at a very even-keel."


With many players back from last year’s team which went three rounds deep into the CIF playoffs, Endres said his team is growing and progressing.


"They’re a mature team and they’ve played a lot together. They understand what its going to take to win," he said.


Junior guard Kevin Cornwell, who scored 18 points vs. T.O, led Agoura while senior forward Adam Allegro had 12 and senior point guard Johnny Gray contributed eight.


"T.O played a great game," said Agoura’s first-year coach Joe Riccio. "They didn’t miss too many shots. Almost every shot––contested or not––seemed to go in."


The Charger coach said his players would be ready for a big game vs. Moorpark yesterday (Wednesday). "We go back to work tomorrow and will finish the rest of the season strong."




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