san marcos 203

SoCal Prep & High School Report

Channel League: San Marcos Wins
Even Without Its Pugilist Billings--(February 3, 1998)

We thought that by Saturday and Sunday, and surely by Monday, SoCalHoops had covered all of the games played in the Channel League last week. We know we got the Dos Pueblos v. Hueneme game; we're also certain that we got the Santa Barbara game as well. We thought we had covered the San Marcos v. Ventura game, but in looking around found that we must have overlooked it. Not to worry. Here's the story.

According to the Santa Barbara News-Press, on Friday night, San Marcos High went searching for a hero, and they found one in Jordan McOwen, who had a career-high 28 points to help defeat Ventura 77-61. San Marcos outscored the Cougars 50-35 in the second half after leading by just one point at intermission. McOwen (6'-4" Sr. SG/F) scored 18 of his 28 points in the second half. He hit 11-of-15 shots from the floor and grabbed six rebounds as the Royals remained in second place in the league. They are now 17-4 overall and 8-2 right behind Dos Pueblos, which is undefeated. Junior guard Jeff Staniland paced Ventura, which has struggled painfully this year (3-7, 6-15) with 26 points.

San Marcos was without center Brook Billings, who was serving a one-game suspension for being ejected from Wednesday's 68-57 loss to Dos Pueblos. No word on whether Billings has been ordered to also attend anger and aggression counseling classes, or issue an apology to the Dos Pueblos player he hit in the crotch with a sharp upper cut after fouling on a Dos Pueblos layup.

In the DP game on Wednesday, McOwen had scored just four points, and he was ready on Friday night to rock and roll. And that he did, scoring six of his team's first eight points. When Sonny Oden converted a layup and a 3-pointer, the Royals' lead had grown to 13-1 with 2:18 left in the first quarter. Ventura didn't get its first field goal until 17 seconds later when Michael Ostic dropped in a 6-foot shot. San Marcos didn't score the rest of the quarter, allowing the Cougars to creep within four, 13-9.

Things got even tighter in the second quarter and Ventura finally took the lead, 26-24, on a layup by Ostic 15 seconds before halftime. San Marcos worked the ball around the perimeter before Randy Moharram bounced the ball to Oden for a 3-pointer that just beat the buzzer. Oden scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half. He also contributed seven rebounds and six assists. Moharram, a 5-foot-5 junior point guard, had a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists.

San Marcos was clinging to a 53-48 lead with 6:47 to play when McOwen tossed in a 3-pointer from the top of the key. It was his first trey in Channel League play. After McOwen stripped the ball from Staniland, Moharram drove and dished it to Art Gutierrez for another 3-pointer, extending the lead to 59-48. From then on, the game was never in doubt as San Marcos cruised.

San Marcos' scoring was led by McOwen with 28 followed by Gutierrez who had 8 including two threes, Oden with 16 including two threes, Arndt who picked up 4 points before fouling out with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter. Moharram also had 11 including one three, Nance 6 (one three), and Viana finished with 2 points.

Ventura's scoring was paced by Robinson 3, Askay 2, Ostic 15, Staniland 26 including two threes, Patel with 2, Peterson 7 including one three, and Weaver with 6 points.