RSS Feed
 |
The Acorn Camarillo Acorn Moorpark Acorn - Simi Valley Acorn |
|
|
||||||||||
|
Gators sinking their teeth into the competition
The Newbury Park Adventist boys' basketball team is putting together quite a season under the direction of second-year head coach Greg Meager. Winners of their first eight Omega League contests prior to Wednesday night's matchup against Ventura County Christian, the undersized Gators (9-3, 8-0) have surprised a lot of people- including themselves- with their play thus far. After losing several key contributors from last year's team to graduation and because of transfers, Newbury Park Adventist has risen to the top of the league standing by utilizing a fast-break offense and a tenacious, full-court defensive attack. "We're a young team this year," Meager said. "We've got a lot of juniors, a couple seniors and a few first-year guys. But still, we're doing pretty well." On Monday night at home, the Gators defeated Pilgrim 56-45. Pilgrim is the defending Omega League champion.
"The past few games I haven't been scoring as much," Paquini said. "Tonight I felt like I was open, so I drove into the lane more often." NPA used a suffocating defense to build an 188 firstquarter lead. Pilgrim, in fact, didn't score its initial field goal until 33 seconds remained in the opening quarter. Pilgrim got hot from the 3point line in the second quarter and was able to tie the game at 26 all at halftime. "Sometimes we tend to play to the level of the other team," Paquini said. "If they're a good team, we play well. If they're not as good, we play mediocre." The Gators went on a 10-0 run to open the third quarter and never looked back. Junior forward Garrison Lysik was all over the place in the second half, inhaling rebounds and putting the ball in the basket on the offensive end. He finished with eight points.
Seniors Matt Shevitz and Jon Cruz each chipped in with nine points for NPA. Although he scored only three points against Pilgrim, junior point guard JP Tan has been the Gators' most productive player to date. Tan's averaging a team-high 13.2 points per game and also leads the squad in assists and 3-point field goals. "I just set up the offense by bringing the ball up court," Tan said. "It's my job to keep everything under control. This year I've taken more of an offensive approach because we lost so many people from last year. "I'm proud of all the guys. Everybody has stepped up. We couldn't have asked for much more than that." Tan isn't a Newbury Park local; he's from North Hills. He's one of 55 students who live in dorm rooms on the school's campus. There are 202 students enrolled at Newbury Park Adventist, which is located off Wendy Drive, just behind the new Island's restaurant. The school's basketball teams play in an on-campus gym that was once used as an airplane hanger for the military. It might not be state-of-the-art, but the place has personality. "It's definitely unique," Meager said. Tonight the Gators face their stiffest challenge to date when they host league rival Skyward Christian (12-4, 9-1). A win would put NPA in solid position to win its first league championship in half a decade. "That would be good for the guys and would give us a nice seed heading into the playoffs," Meager said. According to Paquini, the Gators wouldn't even be in this position without their head coach. "Before Coach Meager came here last year, we didn't know how to do anything, we had no offensive plays," Paquini said. "He got us in shape and working hard. He likes to press, likes to apply the pressure, and that works for us." |
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
|||||||||
)
)
)