SoCalHoops High School News

Nike Dream Classic: Simi Beats
Fairfax By A Point--(Jan. 18, 1999)

This one turned out a lot better than it started, and it came down to the last shot as Fairfax lost to Simi Valley, which could arguably be one of the top two or three teams right now in all of Southern California. Final Score: 64-61.

Simi jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the first quarter, and coach kitani finally figured out that a timeout would be the thing to do.  With Joe Shipp managing to get one really huge block in the first minute of the game, you would have thought it was going to set a tone for the game, but Simi wasn't phased at all; Shaun Michel was hitting Rafael on the backdoor plays, Branduinn Fullove hitting from outside, and Rafael then hitting a huge three pointer, even with Jason and Joe scoring, with 1:48 to play in the quarter, the score was 18-4 Simi. Branduinn then moved to the post, and playing some of the smartest ball we've seen Simi ever play, the Pioneers broke out to a 23-9 lead.  Fairfax was just not getting it done; Jason Morrissette was bobbling the ball, Joe Shipp was running into a wall and Stanley thorne was either fouling or turning the ball over. Even though the refs were generous with scoring a basket for the Lions at the end of the quarter, the score was still 23-14, and this was looking like a rout.

Joe Shipp managed to hit a three at the start of the second quarter, to make the score at least respectable at 23-14, but then Fullove was fouled and he made two, and Simi extended the lead again to 11. Simi kept giving Fairfax glimpses of   looks, and at the half, Simi still led by 10, 41-31. 

In the third quarter, it was like both teams went into a stall, and we don't mean a stall like they were trying to keep the score low, but no one was doing much scoring; shots were off, and the defensive pressure was on, as Simi managed to keep an 8 point lead wth about 2:43 to play.  Stanley Thorne, in an uncharacteristic move, hit a huge three from the left side of the court, and Fairfax was right back ihn it.

But ultimately with 5:30 top play in the fourth, Fairfax again trailed by 7 and then cut it to five on a Joe Shipp. Fullove and Villapigue managed to hit back to back layups, and then Fullove stole the ball after a made basket, got fouled and after making the two shots, it was back to a 9 point game, 62-53.  Stanley Thorne was not really showing his blazing speed, but he still was cutting and driving and occassionally it drew the foul if not the shot. With four minutes to play, Thorne hit two foul shots, bringing the score to 62-55, but even though Fairfax was still hanging at 7 behind, Craig Smith fouled out on the way back down the floor, which really hurt.   Stanley is a smart point guard, but occasionally he has some real bonehead moments (hey, we can say that; it's ok, he's already signed to play at Loyola Marymount next year, so no harm to his future career).  With Jason Morrissette on the block, and Joe Shipp at the high post, Stanley drifted with the ball left, and then shot one of the worst threes we've seen.  Oh, well, in the long run, it really didn't make that much difference as with 2:42 to play, Simi still led by the same margin, 7, and no one was going anywhere really fast.

With 2:21 to play, Jason Morrissette hit a shot to pull within 5, but then Marqui Jones fouled  Berumen, who missed one (geez, we thought he never missed a free-throw), made one, and it was a 6 point lead. On the way back down Jason hit again for two, and it was a four point game.  Morrissette then turned on his "2 minute offense",  drove again, got fouled, and made them both to pull the Lions to within 2, 61-63.  With 57 seconds on the clock, and 15 on the shot clock, Simi was getting nowhere fast, and couldn't penetrate agaisnt the pressure, and Bradshaw wisely called a timeout to utilize the last 20 seconds remaining in the possession.

On the Simi possession, Rafael got the ball in the low post, turned and was blocked by Shipp and Morrissette. On the way down, with about 20 seconds, Marqui Jones fires up what looked like a three attempt, missed (why shoot a three???) and turned the ball over, forcing Fairfax to foul, sending Michel to the line who made the first, missed the second, and with 7 seconds to go, it was a 64-61 game and Fairfax called a timeout just after getting the ball into the frontcourt.

Fairfax gets the ball to Thorne, who gets it to Shipp, and Joe launched a 30 footer. . . which clanked off the front of the rim. Hey, you've got to give it to Fairfax, they put a scare into Simi. Great game.

The final scoring for Simi had Rafael Berumen with 22 poiknts and 1 steal and he was named the player of the game by the media writers;   Shaun Michel had 8, dustin Villegigue had 5, Brett Michel had 12 and Branduinn Fullove had 17.  For Fairfax, Joe Shipp had 21 points, Marqui Jones had 1 (is that right? we thought it was more), Stanley thorne had 11, Craig Smith had 7, and Jason Morrissette had 16.

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