SoCal High School & Prep Report

Thousand Oaks Tourney:
Grant v. Newbury Park--(December 13,1997)

Coach Howie Levine from Grant was intently watching the Newbury Park team in pre-game warmups, scanning the players, running over the matchups and checking out the players in general to see how he might adjust his game plan. "There a great team, and we're going to have a tough time with them. They're big, and they can really shoot well. We'll just have to see if our guys can just play very tough defense, and if we can get some of our guys to play under a little more control," Levine told me before the game. "I don't know if we can beat them, but it's sure going to be a great game."

Levine was right on both, Grant couldn't beat Newbury Park, and it was a great game. It was a veritable three-point shooting contest, not great from a shots-made percentage, but it was absolutely one of the most entertaining games we've seen this year, just because you knew that whenever either team touched the ball, it was more likely than not that a three-point shot was going to get launched. And it was not only a great game, but it was one of the longest in memory for a high school game, almost longer than an NBA game. But we'll get to that in a moment.

First, the score: Newbury Park 77, Grant 69.

But it was a lot closer than that for most of the game until midway through the fourth quarter, when Newbury just erupted and Grant collapsed in a series of bad shots and turnovers. Grant is still a very young team in need of some senior leadership, and Gil Arenas is getting the experience and improving his game so much, that if Grant can keep it's team together next year, keep everyone healthy and academically eligible, they won't have much to worry about.

Newbury Park, on the other hand, doesn't have anything to worry about, either this year or next.

We counted at least 60 three point shots in this game, and of those, 21 went in. Not a great shooting percentage at all, but very entertaining.

The starters for Newbury Park were

Will Svitek (6'-6" So. F)
Daniel Bobik (6'-6" Sr. G)
Luther Staine (5'-11" Sr. G)
Robert Congelliere (6'-6" Sr. F)
Mike Meru (6'-5" Sr. F/C)

Grant started:

Adir Levy (6'-6" Sr. F)
Mike Yildiz (5'-11" So. G)
Gilbert Arenas (6'-2" Jr. PG/SG/F)
LaRon Harris (6'-2" Sr. F)
Krishna Evans (6'-4" So. C)

Well, Howie was right to be concerned about at least one of his players ability to play under control, and we're not talking about Gilbert. Nope, we're talking about Adir Levy. In the first half, we counted 17 touches and 17 shots, every single one a three point attempt. Only 3 of those went in. If the ball got anywhere near him, you just knew he was going to let it fly. There was one shot that was absolutely shocking, and had the crowd either gasping for breath or left them stunned in amazement that he would even attempt it. Late in the first quarter, Grant was brining the ball up, and against a sorta, kinda press from Newbury Park, Adir was in the middle. LaRon Harris brings the ball over to the left side down about as high as the free throw line, and then looks to start the rotation going on the half-court offense. Adir has just crossed the mid-court line, going to the point spot, and La Ron passes the ball to him. Now he's maybe 35, 37 feet out, he gets it on a chest pass, and without looking at anyone else or putting the ball on the floor, let's it fly. Now it doesn't go in, hits the rim and goes out, but that was just typical of the style of play that Adir brings to this team. Sort of like trying to play Bridge with a Pinnochle player. . . you never know what he'll do next. I guess because he made his very first shot about 30 seconds into the game he figured he was just invincible, and when he's hitting on all cylinders he might be. But last night it was a strange performance, at best.

About Gilbert Arenas, we just can't say enough good things. He's about the closest to a minature (at 6'-2") to Tayshaun Prince (who's 6'-8") of any player we've seen this year. People keep saying that he's the best kept secret in SoCal ball, and we can see why. He's got a great dribble, a very quick step, nice ability to twist, turn and get inside around seemingly impenetrable walls on defense, and somehow just knows where the holes are. He's got a very long armspan, and can hit the three (and is just as likely to shoot it from there as Adir is at times) but plays with a lot more intensity and focus. He's got that nice soft step and touch that mark Prince's game and that make it great. He finished last night with 30 points including 4 three-pointers, 18 rebounds and about a dozen assists, and just one monster, loud slapping blocked shot on Mike Meru from three point range which had everyone oohing and ahhhing.

Newbury Park's Dan Bobik also played just an amazing game. He's signed a national letter of intent to play at BYU next year, and this game was just a showcase for his talents. Bobik finished with 26 points, including 6 three pointers. His passing was just flawless and his outside shot is tremendous. Newbury Park's perimeter motion passing and ball reversal back to the weak side allowed Bobik to get repeated open looks from the perimeter, and he wasn't afraid to take them, hitting on 6 for 9 from the outside three range. He can also drive, but seems more comfortable outside. Newbury Park will miss him next year, but this season, other than the losses to Chaminade Simi, and Shantay Legans and Dos Pueblos (you're welcome Dr. Marv P!), NP has played very well.

So this game was a shooting fest. It was also the longest game we've ever been to for a high school game. Why? The scorers clock malfunctioned at least three times. The first malfunction occurred in the first quarter, and the clock was out for about 15 minutes. In the second quarter, with about 4:40 left to play in the half (at least that's what we told the scorer was left, so that's what they put back up when the clock was ultimately restarted) it happened again, and this time it took about 20 minutes to actually find another clock box to plug in. So when a clock is eventually found, four minutes of ball were played, and then we take a 12 minute halftime. Finally the game restarts, but in the fourth quarter with about 6:10 to go (again we had to tell the scorer how much time to put on the clock) we had another unscheduled timeout when the clock blew up again, this time for about 10 minutes. So, in 32 minutes of basketball, a game that started at 6:30 wasn't finished until about a quarter to 9.

How was the game? Well, when it was being played it was pretty fun to watch. Arenas struck first hitting for an outside 2 from the wing. Then Bobik hit for a two from the right side wing. Arenas feeds to Adir. One touch. Boom, three pointer, his first of the night. But in less than one minute of play, Arenas picked up his first foul, one of four for the night, this one on Meru, a big kid with a nice move to the basket, who makes both free throws. Next possession down the floor, Adir Levy lets it rip again, this one from about 35', and it misses wide. Then Krishna Evans, who spent a lot of time falling down and on the floor, but who rebounded very well, fouled Will Svitek, who tied the score at 5-5 with the free throw. Grant then hit the next two on Arenas and Krishna layups, and the score was 9-5. Adir Levy then went on a personal shooting spree, not hitting any but taking three three point attempts in a row each time getting his own rebound, touching it once and firing. Hey, somebody let this guy know that there are four other players out there. Yildiz then hits a three and it's 14-5. But then Bobik starts to hit, and by the end of the quarter it's 14-12, with NP trailing by only two.

In the second quarter, Krishna Evans, the rebounding machine steps out of bounds with the ball, and on the next run down the floor, Bobik hits again for three from way outside, putting NP ahead, 15-14. A few baskets get traded on pretty routine plays, and then Adir gets the ball again, this time, from just over mid-court. He touches it. Boom, fires a shot, which not surprisingly, misses. Finally, Levine has had enough, and sits him down for a while, bringing in Justin Buttikofer (6'-1" Jr. F), a big sized wide-body guy who is one of the hardest workers on the floor for Grant. He's probably not the most skilled, although he does have a nice outside shot and the ability to get to the hole, but he's really a much more intensely focused player than some of the others, and he did exactly what he needed to do: Clog up the middle, put a body on Svitek, and actually play some defense, which was a whole lot more than Adir was doing in the first half. With the score aaat 22-23 NP ahead, the clock breaks, and we have some really fine entertainment for 20 minutes watching the players from both teams run layup drills just to keep warm. When the clock restarts, you can tell that the players are a bit out-of-sync again, and there are a whole bunch of sloppy turnovers by both teams, and two consecutive airballs by Gil Arenas. Brian Polen (6'-3" Jr. F) hits a couple, and played very well; he's got a nice outside shot, a good jump stop move in traffic and great court vision. Bobik and he were swinging the ball, bullet passing, and playing just great ball, and Polen hit for a couple in the period, and Bobik hit a big three, and NP went up 22-30. Then Yildiz, who had been pretty quiet hit a 3. Gil Arenas then made a spectacular, hanging in the air, Michael Jordan fall away jumper, and Grant was back in it 28-30. But Yildiz then fouls Polen in the act of shooting, and he makes the and one, and its NP 33, Grant 28. Gil makes another, and Lee Turner (6'-7 Sr. C/F) for Newbury executes a nice turnaround layup, and as the quarter ends, it's 30-35 Newbury.

The third quarter is another three point shooting contest, except this time they're making them. Adir made two of his threes, and Howie must have had a good talk with him, because he actually passed the ball several times, picking up at least 4 assists in the process. Gil made two threes, but so did Mike Meru for Newbury and D. Bobik. At the end of the third quarter, Grant had battled back to within one point, 51-52.

The fourth quarter was really a three point exhibition. We counted 7 threes, mostly in a span of about 4 minutes at the beginning of the quarter. Arenas struck first, then Jesse Roche (5'-10 Jr. G) for Newbury missed a three, got the rebound and then made the three, to bring it to 57-58. With 6:47 showing, Arenas picked up his fourth foul, and sat, and that really was the difference in the game. Dan Block (6'-0" Jr. G) for NP hit a couple of great three's each time down on the open look created by Bobik's great passing and ball reversal to the weak side where Block was just camped out. And considering Adir was usually guarding him, Block was wide open. With two minutes left in the game, it was still just a four point game, 65-69, but then Bobik went to work again, hitting a very big three from the left corner, then he stole the ball and took it the length of the court for the layup, and in less than 30 seconds, Grant trailed 65-74. But Arenas wasn't finished either, and with 1:17 on the clock, Areneas stole the ball and had an easy layup. . . except that he chose to try a slam dunk. . . which didn't work. You know the type: The ball slams onto the top of the rim and goes about halfway to the ceiling. But redemption is sweet. Gil gets his own rebound and puts it in to bring the score to 67-74 with the assist to Evans who lays it in. Bobik makes another two, 67-74. Adir tries a three and misses. With 22 seconds showing, Grant fouls Meru, who makes one of two, and it's now 67-77. So, trailing by 10 with 20 seconds what does Adir do? He makes a layup. A layup. A two pointer. But of all times to do that, why wait until the end of the game? At least Gil tried to hit the three.

So with the score 69-77, what does Grant do with only 2 seconds showing on the clock?

What else; they did what they could.

In a game that's already taken way too long to play, that's been interrupted for a total of 30 minutes for unscheduled clock repair, and that's completely out of reach, you do what you can: You call a timeout.

Seriously. That's what happened.

Gil Arenas takes the last shot, a desperation throw from mid-court, and it misses. Final 77-69.

So here's the scoring:

For Newbury Park: Svitek 11, Block 5, Jesse Roche, 9 on 3 for 3 three-pointers, Dan Bobik 26 and six threes, Luther Staine 2, Nick Czernek 3 Meru 10, Turner 3, Congeliere 3.

For Grant Winston had 10, Adir Levy finished with 13, Yildez had 6 on two three's Arenas had 30 points, Harris had 4, and Krishna Evans had 6.

Newbury Park, as we said, is a team that should do very well this year, and is deep and talented. Grant is a team which has some very talented players who need to play more together as a team. They played just superb defense and it seemed that during the first half and third quarter, almost every pass that NP made, someone from Grant got a hand on. But between the off night that Levy was having from the outside and the spotty defense during the fourth quarter, Grant just couldn't pull it together during the stretch. They are a fine team, and have a great coach with tremendous knowledge of the game. They'll do very well this year if they can learn to play together and get a bit more discipline.

Congratulations to both teams, and to both Dan Bobik and Gil Arenas on being selected to the all-tournament team.

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