Lions stay undefeated

Acorn Sports Writer


The Oaks Christian boys’ basketball team, coached by Gary Abraham and playing a varsity schedule for the first time—in the school’s second year of existence—was undefeated at 14-0 after a 60-51 win over St. Bonaventure of Ventura in a game played in Westlake Village last Friday night.


The Lions were led by Sean Adams, a 6-foot-3 sophomore forward, who scored 21 points including four 3-point baskets.


OCHS weathered a comeback attempt spearheaded by the Seraphs’ Whitney Lewis (11 points) who scored his team’s final eight points in the third quarter and helped St. Bonaventure cut an 18-point lead, 46-28, in half, 48-39, by the end of three quarters.


"There’s not too many people in the county that can guard him one-on-one," Abraham said of trying to contain Lewis. "After he started taking it to the hole, we went to a little 2-3 zone to try and stop his penetration in the second half."


The Lions’ lead was cut to seven twice in the fourth quarter (57-50 and 58-51), but they were never seriously threatened.


"Oaks Christian is a very solid team," said St. Bonaventure coach Gil Kim. "They don’t have a lot of height, they don’t have a lot of strength, but they’ve got some ballplayers."


Part of the reason for that lack of height and physical prowess is that OCHS has no seniors on its team, but consists of four freshmen, five sophomores and four juniors. The school won’t have seniors until next season.


"We’re an up and coming team," Abraham said. "We’re young and it was a good win for our program. Going into the game we knew we were going to have a tough game. And it was. I really liked the way that we didn’t back down. The kids came focused tonight."


Abraham said his team’s hot first half of the season has exceeded his preseason hopes.


"This is really beyond our expectations," he said. "Our kids come and play hard every day. Sometimes we don’t shoot as well as I know they can, but young teams do that, and I think this team’s going to get nothing but better and better in years to come."


Lion team members, asked if the 14-0 start to the season was a surprise, had mixed reactions.


"I never expected this," said Aaron Cline, a 6-foot junior guard who scored nine points against St. Bonaventure. "At the beginning of the season I was hoping just to get to the playoffs."


Sophomore guard Mike Hornbuckle (6-2) disagreed.


"Actually, I did think that we were going to be 14-0," Hornbuckle said. "I think that we have a good chance of going undefeated the rest of the season."


If it continues to win, OCHS would receive an automatic bid to participate in the CIF playoffs.


Kim, the St. Bonaventure coach, said the Lions are a tough team to beat if the opponent doesn’t come prepared to play nearly flawlessly.


"They all shoot well," Kim said. "They all handle the ball well. They’ve just got a lot of basketball skills. And they’re well coached with good fundamentals. It’s a hard team to beat. If you make mistakes, they’re going to make you pay."


OCHS outscored St. Bonaven-ture 36-22 in the first half Friday night. Adams hit two 3-point shots in a 24-point second quarter for the Lions, who led only 12-10 after one quarter.


"You can’t play the way we did in the first half and expect to beat a team like this," Kim said. "It’s hard to comeback against a solid team that doesn’t make mistakes."





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