Thousand Oaks one step closer to elusive title

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers CRAZY KIDS—The Thousand Oaks High student section was rocking during last weekend's semifinal blowout win over Marina. Will the third time be the charm?

That's the milliondollar question locally as the Thousand Oaks High boys' basketball team prepares to make its third CIFSouthern Section title-game appearance since 2002.

The Lancers lost their previous two visits to the section championship—a lastsecond heartbreaker to Loyola at the '02 final and a six-point setback vs. Ventura in '06.

On Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Thousand Oaks can claim the CIFSS banner that has eluded every other team in the program's 48-year varsity hoops history.

"It's a great opportunity, a dream come true," said Lancer senior guard Chris Carter, following last Friday's 89-57 rout of Marina in a semifinal matchup at Westlake High.

"We want to get this for our coach, for our team and for our high school."

Senior guard Antonio Lopez said he began to realize Thousand Oaks was a championship-caliber squad way back during summer workouts. Now, he says, is the time to cash in on all the hard work everyone has put in.

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers NO FREE RIDES—Marina High's Garrett James, front left, attempts to box out Thousand Oaks' Kevin Kiani while Kiani's teammate, Michael Taxter, back right, pulls down a rebound. "When you go to Thousand Oaks, this is the sort of thing your coaches keep telling you about," Lopez said.

"You kind of dream about this stuff—being the first team to bring a CIF championship here."

Accomplishing the titlewinning goal will require a Herculean effort from TOHS.

Thousand Oaks (28-2), the top seed in Division IIAA, faces the secondseeded Leuzinger Olympians (25-5) of Lancaster. Tipoff is slated for 2:15 p.m.

Despite the teams' postseason seedings, Leuzinger enters the contest ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 50 nationally by MaxPreps.com. The same website has TOHS at No. 27 in the state and 385th nationwide.

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers HE'S THE MAN—This is the third time TOHS head coach Richard Endres will lead his boys' hoops squad into a section title game. Led by 6-foot-7 forward Jerry Evans, the highpowered Olympians average 74.6 points per game. Six Leuzinger players average more than seven points a contest.

Thousand Oaks can score in bunches, too, but aggressive, inyour-face defense remains the Lancers' bread and butter.

In four playoff games, TOHS has allowed 57, 45, 54 and 41 points. There were times during the semifinal against Marina in which the Lancers were stealing the ball on almost every opponent possession.

Creating turnovers "is something we practice a lot," said Lopez, who scored 13 points against Marina.

"The three main things that our coach always preaches are stance, position and rotation. . . .The main key is that when one guy gets a trap, the next guy rotates to pick off the pass and get the steal."

Said head coach Richard Endres: "Some nights we're not going to shoot very well. When you don't shoot well, you have to have something to fall back on.

"Defense is our point of emphasis. We've got a deep bench and a lot of kids who can play."

Stifling defense and a sharethe-ball-on-offense mentality have been Lancer trademarks during Endres' 12 years at the helm.

The coach, however, said the three teams that qualified for section finals all had varying styles of play.

"The first team we took to a final had four football players," Endres said. "Some went on to great football careers—Ben Olson and Dave Anderson. They were smart, intelligent kids, but they were completely different than this group.

"They did all have one common theme in that we all spent a lot of time on defense."

With a 243-102 all-time coaching record at TOHS, Endres owns the program's highest overall winning percentage.

This year's group has already established a new record for victories in a season, surpassing the previous mark of 27 wins set in 2001-02 and again in 2005-06.

Endres said the thing that makes this Lancer squad so special is that despite having nine seniors on the roster, there wasn't a single returning starter from a year ago.

"From the beginning, I think a lot of people underestimated what some of our kids can do," the coach said.

No matter how well their defense plays Saturday, the Lancers' offense still has to go toe-to-toe with Leuzinger.

In the semis, TOHS had 10 different players score, including four guys in double figures— Alex Tiffin, Chad Kingi, Michael Taxter and Lopez.

The environment at the Honda Center can be challenging for shooters more accustomed to high school gymnasiums. Nerves will also play a large role in what happens on the court.

"The inside of the gym is so vast and so open, it can be a very sterile place to play," Endres said. "It's not an easy place to play, but talking about it won't do much. When they get there, they'll see it."

Tiffin, the Lancers' 6-foot-7 post presence, said he expects the arena to be abuzz with energy.

"It would definitely be a big honor for us to win this," he said. "I can't think of a better moment."