Lancers finish alone atop Marmonte League standings
TOHS boys' basketball squad utilizes tenacious defense to win championship
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers NOWHERE TO GO- Thousand Oaks' Cyrus Kiani, right, uses his fingertips to block a shot by Simi Valley's Michael Meza last week.

In this particular circumstance, Thousand Oaks High boys' basketball coach Rich Endres wanted his players to be a little bit greedy.

Last year the Lancers won a share of the Marmonte League title, splitting the championship with Calabasas. TOHS earned its piece of first place by beating Newbury Park on the road during the regular-season finale.

Fast forward one year- to last Friday night at the Newbury Park gym- and the same two schools are battling on the court once again. This time, however, Thousand Oaks had a chance to clinch the outright league title. In doing so, the Lancers could relegate rival Westlake to a second-place finish.

"I tell the boys, 'Your mother tells you to share, but I don't think she means to share a championship,'" said Endres, following his team's 56-52 victory over a gritty Newbury Park squad.

"We didn't want to share. We like Westlake and all, but we really didn't want to split this with them."

Lancer senior guard Bobby Macias made sure Thousand Oaks finished on top of the Marmonte standings. Macias hit five 3-point baskets en route to a game-high 21 points.

"We took it a little personal," Macias said. "We had to split last year with Calabasas. The seniors, like me and Jake (Poppen) and Mike Roberts and some of the other returnees, we really wanted a league championship of our own, and now we've got it."

Poppen, a 6-foot-4 forward, finished with 11 points. His biggest basket of the night was a turnaround jumper that put TOHS on top 52-50 with just under a minute remaining in the game.

"This is the last season of my life at T.O., so it means everything to me," Poppen said.

"It feels a lot different. Last year I didn't have as big of a part in everything. This year I'm more of leader on the team, so it means more to me. I feel like a better player, like I'm better for the team. It means a lot."

Junior forward Cyrus Kiani also contributed 11 points for Thousand Oaks.

Newbury Park finished the season 6-20 overall and 2-12 in league. The Panthers kept the contest close throughout the night and were leading at halftime, 27-26. The score was tied late in the fourth quarter before Thousand Oaks pulled away in the waning seconds.

NPHS was led by Ben Wondra. The senior guard had a team-high 12 points, eight of which came in the first half. Senior guard Scott Takeguma only scored two points, but he provided much of Newbury Park's emotional spark.

"Steve Johnson prepared his team very well," Endres said. "He's an excellent coach and he got the best out of his kids tonight."

Newbury Park's biggest win of the season came on Feb. 5 at Simi Valley. Sophomore center Charles Benton scored 22 points and pulled down six rebounds as the Panthers shocked the Pioneers 58-56. Newbury Park's victory over Simi Valley helped Thousand Oaks position itself for a shot at the league title.

The Lancers (23-3, 12-2) will take an eight-game winning streak into Friday night's CIFSouthern Section Division I-AA first-round game against either Bellflower or El Segundo. A season ago, TOHS advanced to the Division I-A championship, where they were defeated by Ventura.

According to Endres, Thousand Oaks allowed the fewest points per game (46.1) in Division I-AA this year, and the coach said they'll need that defensive intensity to be cranked up another notch to have success this postseason.

"We're going to have to play over our heads to go very far," Endres said. "We're going to give it our best shot. It's our first year in Division IAA, so we'll be seeing some new teams. We're looking forward to it."