MHS trying to climb its way up Marmonte League standings
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

The Marmonte League boys' basketball season has reached its midway point, so it's about time to separate the contenders from the pretenders in the race for a league championship.

Prior to tonight's games, Simi Valley had a two-game lead over Westlake, Thousand Oaks and Calabasas. The Pioneers were 7-0 in Marmonte play while the Warriors, Lancers and Coyotes all had 5-2 marks.

Utilizing an offense that features four guards and a center, Simi Valley (16-3) has created matchup problems throughout its early-season schedule.

"We thought that we could take advantage of teams that were bigger than us by making them play faster," SVHS head coach Christian Aurand said. "On the defensive end, we try to put pressure on the ball the entire game by pressing and trapping. It's been effective so far."

Junior Michael Meza leads the Pioneers in points (16.8) and rebounds (7.1) per game. Another junior, Lorne Jackson, has the team lead in assists (6.3) and steals (3.9) per contest. Brandon Simon and Tyler Ostrovsky have been deadly at times from the 3-point line.

"They've proven themselves in the first round of league," Moorpark head coach Tim Bednar said. "You've got to give Simi credit; their games have been close, but they've won the close games."

Westlake (136) lost a onepoint heartbreaker to Calabasas at home last Friday night. Despite the setback, the Warriors have posted several quality wins already this season, namely against Oak Park, Thousand Oaks and Ventura.

"We're playing pretty well," WHS head coach Tom Donohue said. "We were disappointed with the Calabasas loss- we were up two with 10 seconds to go and they hit a 3-pointer on us.

"Our goal is to win the rest of our games and hopefully knock off Simi and tie for the championship."

The Warriors have received strong performances this season from point guard Matt Mazarei, forwards Allen Scott and Andreas Svennefiord, and guards Mauro Ormedillo and Adam Kolodney.

Thousand Oaks (16-3) and Calabasas (10-9) split the league title last season. Each team lost significant contributors from those championship-winning squads, but both are still competing at a high level thus far this year.

The Lancers, who won their first nine games of the season, continue to play suffocating defense. TOHS allowed a leaguelow 874 points through its first 19 games. Bobby Macias and Jake Poppen have been vital to the Lancers' success.

"They are an athletic team," Bednar said. "They can go up high and get rebounds, or they can make the acrobatic shots when needed."

Under the direction of firstyear head coach Jim Nielsen, the Coyotes struggled to gain consistency early on, winning just two of their first seven games. Since then, things have gradually turned around for CHS, as the team won four of its first five contests to open the new calendar year.

Royal, Moorpark, Agoura and Newbury Park round out the bottom half of the league's standings.

The Highlanders (6-13, 2-5) looked to be gaining some positive momentum in late December when they reeled off three consecutive wins. After that, however, the team dropped six of seven contests to fall back in the pack.

Junior guard Derick Haught has been Royal's most productive offensive player to date.

Moorpark (7-12, 2-5) battled through some earlyseason injuries and is finally starting to get healthy. With a full roster intact, Bednar believes his squad can make a late-season push toward the postseason.

"We've got to knock off a couple of the teams that are above us," Bednar said. "This week is huge for us. We play Simi and we play Westlake. If we get wins this week, it's really going to boost our kids' confidence."

MHS lost to Simi 74-56 Wednesday night at SVHS.

Guards David Buchanan and Cameron Dubois, as well as forward Michael Snowden, have all played well for the Musketeers.

Consistency has really hurt Agoura (514, 16). The Chargers have had several players miss time because of family vacations and other personal reasons. Since starting the year 4-3, AHS has dropped 11 of its last 12 games. Agoura is shooting only 55 percent from the free-throw line.

Charger head coach Joe Riccio is one of the league's most positive-minded leaders, but even he has been frustrated by his team's recent results.

"It's been a real difficult year in terms of having the entire team on the same page," Riccio said.

"But we're still working hard every day. The team comes in and practices hard and watches a lot of video. I'm doing the best I can to try and emotionally and mentally stay as positive as I can."

Newbury Park (5-14, 1-6) has had a rough time, too. The good news is the Panthers earned their first league victory last Friday against Royal, a game in which sophomore center Charles Benton scored 17 points and hauled in 21 rebounds. As Benton continues to develop, NPHS is expected to improve.

The league schedule will conclude on Feb. 9. The top four finishers are guaranteed playoff spots. Any team that finishes out of the top four but wins at least 12 games can petition the CIFSouthern Section for an at-large postseason berth.