Crowning achievement for Thousand Oaks

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers GREATEST DAY EVER—Junior forward Alex Tiffin had 24 points, seven rebounds, seven blocks and three assists in the title tilt. Minutes before his team was scheduled to take the court for last Saturday's CIF-Southern Section Division IIAA boys' basketball championship game, Thousand Oaks High head coach Richard Endres stood alone in the bowels of the Honda Center.

Endres had traveled this road before with the Lancers, losing section title tilts in 2002 and again in '06, and as his players prepared to embark on the greatest test of their remarkable season, a moment of clarity was certainly in order.

"Sometimes I separate myself from the team and just try and think about what I have to do as a coach," Endres said afterward.

"The kids rely on me to be calm and cool, and sometimes it's hard to do that."

Taking a page from their levelheaded leader, the top-seeded Lancers battled the second-seeded yet heavily favored Leuzinger Olympians for 32 minutes of thrilling, end-to-end basketball.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers MUCHO GUSTO—As always, the Thousand Oaks fans brought their "A" game to Saturday's CIF-SS Division IIAA championship. During a contest in which they committed 18 turnovers and had to fight through eight lead changes and 10 ties, Thousand Oaks never lost its focus or allowed the moment to get too big, even when everything was on the line and the crowd was going nuts in the waning minutes of regulation.

The end result was a thrilling 59-55 victory for the Lancers, a win that delivered the school's first boys' hoops title in 48 years of varsity competition.

"Mentally," Endres would say at the postgame press conference, "I think the boys are probably more spent than they are physically."

And who could blame them?

This year's Lancer squad became only the second team in program history to compile a 14-0 record in the Marmonte League— the 1993 team also did it, while the 2002 group went 12-0 in league.

Then, in the playoffs, TOHS was awarded the division's top seed even though Leuzinger was much more highly touted in the state rankings.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers MAKING HISTORY—The Thousand Oaks High coaches and players celebrate the school's first CIF-SS boys' hoops championship. TOHS has been playing varsity basketball since 1962. Before the championship, Endres said people he spoke with had Leuzinger as a 10- to 15-point favorite.

"Everybody told me I didn't have a chance," Endres said.

"'They're too quick. They're too fast. And we haven't played anybody.' Those were the comments that I read, and I think all of that was proved differently."

Thousand Oaks, a defensiveminded group devoid of superstars, received a superhuman effort from 6-foot-7 junior forward Alex Tiffin in the final.

Tiffin's line: a game-high 24 points, seven rebounds, seven blocked shots and three assists. He played in all but 36 seconds of the game.

"It's a great honor to finally bring (a title) back home," Tiffin said. "We'd already been here twice, but we couldn't convert those two. To finally do it, it's a proud moment for everyone in the community."

The rest was typical TOHS basketball, with contributions coming from all over the floor.

Lancer senior Antonio Lopez added 12 points, including a huge steal and breakaway layup that gave his team a 55-53 advantage with 1:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. Chris Carter, another senior, chipped in with 11 points and two steals, and senior forward Michael Taxter was good for seven rebounds, including five on the defensive end.

Defensively, TOHS locked down on Leuzinger by utilizing a matchup 2-3 zone, forcing the ultra athletic Olympians to become jump shooters for much of the afternoon.

"We didn't really get the game to our tempo," Leuzinger head coach Reggie Morris Jr. said.

"What was the final score, in the 60s? Fifty-nine points—that's not our tempo. If we get this game into the 70s, I think we have a really good chance to win."

Carter said keeping the score within reach at all times—the biggest lead of the game was a 9-4 TOHS advantage early in the opening quarter—was vital for the Lancers to succeed.

"We wanted to keep the game close because we had our dream, and we knew what we were reaching for," Carter said. "We weren't going to give up on that."

A key moment occurred with 3:28 left in the fourth.

With the score tied at 50, Morris Jr. reinserted his most explosive player, 6-foot-7 wingman Jerry Evans, who was strapped with four fouls.

Coming out of a timeout, Endres drew up a play to attack Evans.

"As soon as (Evans) got back into the game, we were going to go back in and find him to see if we could get another foul on him."

The plan worked to perfection when, four seconds later, Evans hacked Tiffin near the basket. Evans went to the bench, and the Olympians managed only five more points the rest of the game.