simi loses again

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Marmonte League: Newbury Park
Beats Simi--Again--(February 8, 1998)

On Thursday night this past week, Newbury Park had just come off a substantial win against one of the teams in Marmonte League with only a so-so league record, Royal. After Newbury Park defeated Royal by a score of 79-69 on Thursday, Royal's record was 11-10 overall and 5-6 in league. So Newbury Park figured, and rightly so, that with their workout session against Royal on Thursday behind them, they were ready to get about the business of doing what they had set out to do all year: Beat Simi Valley twice in one season.

And this was not just any old season in which the Panthers were trying to accomplish this feat. Most people at the beginning of the season would have believed that a team with the likes of Ian Boys, Branduinn Fullove, Rafael Berumen, Brett Michel, Shaun Michel, Kurt Mjoen and others would be "unbeatable". Heck, if you're reading the Daily News Poll which continues to rate Simi No. 1 in the region, and you didn't know better, you'd still believe they were unbeatable. And if you saw the 13th Annual Simi Valley Classic Tournament in early December, in which Simi whipped Chaminade in the finals, it was hard to believe that Simi would lose to any local teams; indeed, they had already beaten Newbury Park easily in the third round of the tournament too. There were some coaches ready to take up arms against Simi Coach Dean Bradshaw, accusing him of everything but the Lizzie Borden murders, being the gunman on the grassy knoll, or sleeping with President Clinton, and claiming that he or "somone" had "recruited" Ian Boys from Buena High where he was a star in the Channel League last year. With the addition of Boys, so it was said, nobody, but nobody could beat these guys. Simi had been rated early on in the No. 1 spot in the Division I-AA spot, the highest bracket for "large schools" in CIF competition, ahead of Artesia, Etiwanda, Long Beach Poly, and Eisenhower. While they dropped to No. 2 recently after January 14 (see below for more details), No. 2 in the entire Southern Section is still pretty hot, second only to Artesia and Jason Kapono & Co. Some pretty good company if you ask us.

But then a funny thing happened to the Simi team. After racking up their first league victory mid-December (Marmonte League play started before most other leagues because of the large number of teams in the league), Simi headed off to Las Vegas for the Reebok Holiday Classic. After winning their first game easily, Simi was defeated, not once, but twice, by some other "big" name schools, in games in which Boys, the star transfer had hardly been a factor at all, at least not the dominating factor that people had imagined him to be. Mind you he played well, but he was scoring 4, 6, maybe 8 points a game, and not starting. And then Rafael Berumen went out with an ankle injury. Branduinn Fullove seemed to be suffering from a lack of sleep and was missing shots. Suddenly, Simi wasn't so "unbeatable" after all.

But then they came back to LA and everyone said, "Well, they got beat by a bunch of real powerhouse, nationally rated teams. You know, teams which really recruit players; D-I breeding grounds. Like Fresno's Washington Union High with Chris Jeffries who'll be at Arkansas next year. [SoCalHoops does not make the allegation, just saying that others said this]. Berumen was hurt; Fullove was "off". Look at how good Brett Michel is doing. And wait till Rafael is well. Just wait until they play other local teams. They're still unbeatable."

And Simi did beat a lot of other local teams in league competition. They beat Royal; they beat Thousand Oaks; they beat Agoura, Camarillo, Channel Islands and Westlake, some twice.

But then it was time to play the rematch with Newbury Park. Newbury Park had been somewhat of a puzzle all year. In the Simi Tournament in early December, they beat Palmdale, 70-57 in the first round as Dan Bobik scored 23 points. Then in the second round, they beat South Gate 67-46. The third round led to a matchup with Simi, the first time both of these teams had met this season. In that one Simi beat Newbury Park 72-54, easily handling the Panthers. So with a little bit of wounded pride, Newbury Park also headed off to Vegas for the Reebok Holiday Classic. They won a few, and lost a few. Frankly, we think most people expected them to lose more than they would win, notwithstanding the Bobik brothers, Brian Polen, Luther Staine, or any other good player on the team. Everyone said, "Oh, Newbury Park, they're beatable. Don't worry, it's Simi all the way this year."

But then a funny thing happened. Both teams returned to LA, and Simi immediately got all the attention while Newbury Park remained somewhat of a poor-relation. A good team, but people continued to question their basketball pedigree. As both teams entered full-blown league play, Simi kept winning and was rated continuously as the region's No. 1 team by CIF SS coaches polls, the Daily News, The LA Times, and the Ventura County Star News. Newbury Park kept winning too, but it took a long time for them to earn the respect they've now got as they are rated the No. 4 ranked team in the area by the Times and Daily News. Newbury Park though is still rated No. 6 in the CIF coaches poll. In Division II-A, a step or two (actually three steps) down from the Division in which Simi will play in the playoffs.

On January 14, 1998, the two teams matched up again. Most people didn't really take much notice of the game in advance. And why should they? Both teams had met before, and Simi had easily handled them. This time would be no different, right?

Wrong.

When the two teams matched up again on the 14th of January in their first league game, Newbury Park surprised the critics, surprised the fans, and amazed themselves. They beat Simi 73-71 at Newbury Park.

And then after that game, things returned to "normal". Both teams went on with the rest of league play. Simi continued to win, and so did Newbury Park.

There was a rematch scheduled for Friday, February 6, 1998, this time at Simi Valley, a tough gym to play in. Lots of loyal fans, a great booster club, a loud band, and a house that rocks when it's packed.

So everyone again said, "Oh, Simi had a bad night that first time. Look how close the score was. It was a fluke. Next time they meet, you'll see, Simi will kill them." Right?

Wrong.

Another funny thing happened on the way to the Marmonte League title: Newbury Park is going to be the 1998 Marmonte League Champion. And Simi isn't.

As of today, Sunday, February 8, 1998, the two teams' respective records are identical in overall wins and loss, with each team at 20-4 overall. But in league play, Simi is 10-2, while Newbury Park is 12-0.

Huh? Newbury Park undefeated?

You bet.

The score of Friday night's game: Newbury Park 51, Simi 44.

44 points? From Rafael Berumen? From Branduinn Fullove? From Brett Michel?

While Berumen had 22 points, Fullove (for him) had a low-scoring night, hitting for only 11 points. And the rest of the team just didn't get it done either: Boys 6 points; B. Michel only 3; Sean Michel 2. No other scorers.

For Newbury Park, Conglelliere had 4, Dan Bobik had 28 points, 12 boards, and 8 steals, while Mike Meru had 2, Luther Staine had 8, B. Bobik had 2, Block had 2, Czernek had 2, Brian Polen 1, and Turner 2.

As the LA Times recorded it in Saturday's edition, to Newbury Park High boys' basketball Coach Steve Johnson, the 51-44 victory over Simi Valley in a Marmonte League game on Friday night was the biggest win of his four-year career at the school. It may not have been a pretty game, but Newbury Park got the job done. And there was a great picture of Brian Polen shooting around Kurt Mjoen. Nice photo; pictures are sometimes worth a thousand words.

But back to the word biz: Newbury Park, the No. 4-ranked team in the region, shot only 33.9% (21 of 62) from the field, and scored only six points in the third quarter. But the Panthers forced Simi Valley to commit 21 turnovers and held the Pioneers to single-digit scoring in each of the last three quarters. Newbury Park has won 11 games in a row, 14 in 15, and clinched a share of the league title with two games left in the regular season. "We wanted to prove that the first time wasn't a fluke," Johnson told the LA Times. of Newbury Park's 73-71 come-from-behind victory over Simi Valley last month. "A lot of people thought we got lucky when we beat them, but we wanted to prove that it wasn't a fluke."

No one seem more determined to do that than Daniel Bobik. Bobik made one big play after another for Newbury Park, which played much of the game without foul-plagued starters Robert Congelliere and Brian Bobik, Daniel's brother. "It's huge, it's a huge win," Bobik shouted as he was congratulated by Newbury Park supporters. "Because with this win, there's a good chance that we'll move into the top four teams in the [Southern Section Division II-A poll]. To beat a team that was ranked among the top teams in the state at the start of the season twice is just incredible."

Newbury Park was clinging to a 37-35 lead entering the fourth quarter after making only three of 11 shots in the third quarter, but Bobik quickly gave the Panthers some breathing room. He scored on a two-handed dunk after a steal to give Newbury Park a 39-35 lead with 7:43 left and then followed in Nick Czernek's miss to give the Panthers a 41-35 advantage with 6:51 remaining. "That dunk was really big," Simi Valley point guard Shaun Michel said. "That seemed to give them a lot of momentum. They seemed to gain from that."

Simi Valley narrowed its deficit to 43-40 with 4:03 left, but Congelliere scored over 6-9 Rafael Berumen with 3:41 left to give Newbury Park a 45-40 lead and Daniel Bobik's three-pointer 30 seconds later gave the Panthers a 48-40 advantage. Berumen, The Times' Ventura County player of the year last season, had 22 points for Simi Valley, 13 in the first quarter when he hit six of eight shots to help the Pioneers to a 20-13 lead.

Echoing what he said last month after Simi's first loss to Newbury Park, Simi Coach Dean Bradshaw said again "I just think they outplayed us.They defended us well and when they started to hit some of their shots, they took us out of our transition game." Branduinn Fullove scored 11 points for Simi Valley.

Well, maybe now Newbury Park can get the respect it deserves. And like the LA Times regional poll, which after the loss to Newbury Park in January dropped Simi to a more realistic No. 2 (while continuing to rate Newbury Park at No. 7, No. 5, and No. 4 as time marched on), maybe now the silly guys who put out the Daily News Poll will wake up and drop Simi out of the No. 1 spot as well. It's not that we here at SoCalHoops don't love you guys at Simi--we do, and to quote Mike Miller at WestCoastHoops, responding to a fan of Redondo Union High who said his team wasn't getting enough coverage, "we've shown you so much love this year it's indecent".

But no matter how much we love you guys, realistically, this year, Simi isn't the No. 1 team it might have been, either in league play, or in the Polls. Newbury Park just might be. We'll wait and watch to see what comes out on Tuesday from the papers. Stay tuned.