other santa barbara games

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Channel League: Scores From Santa
Barbara & Ventura Region--(January 29, 1998)

CHANNEL LEAGUE

Santa Barbara 70, Oxnard 54

The Dons scored 44-point in the second-half to defeat the host Yellowjackets in a Channel League game. The win moves Santa Barbara, which is now 13-8 overall and 6-3 in league into a third-place tie with Oxnard which is 12-7 overall and also 6-3 in league, behind Dos Pueblos in first and second-place San Marcos. The win over marks a 26-point improvement for the Dons, who were beaten by the Yellowjackets by 10 points in their first meeting of the season. Santa Barbara was without the services of guard Daniel Worzella, who was suspended for the game for violating a team rule. The Dons trailed 29-26 at halftime, but outscored the Yellowjackets 44-24 in the second half. Tony Freeman scored a game-high 23 points for Santa Barbara, including 12 points in the fourth quarter. Danny Ortiz nailed five of his six three-pointers in the second half and finished with 19 points. Others scoring for Santa Barbara were Freeman 23, Ortiz 19, Christ 8, Allen 8, Williams 6, Kelly 4, Shelton 2. For Oxnard, the scoring was Fouchey 11, Eberhardt 14, Galloway 4, Tafoya 6, Rogers 5, O'Brien 8, Hughes 6.

Ventura 65, Buena 61

This game is usually for the league title. But not this year. It's more like a seventh-place game, as both teams are struggling. But you wouldn't have guessed that Wednesday night when 2,000 fans showed up at Ventura College for this one. The game was intense and physical -- the kind of game where the team with the ball last probably would win. And after 15 lead changes and 11 tied scores, Ventura came away with a 65-61 verdict, its fifth victory in a row over Buena, which suffered its 12th straight loss of the season.

The game was close all the way -- Buena's biggest lead being seven points (24-17) early in the second quarter and Ventura's being five, 40-35 early in the third period. In the fourth quarter alone, there were eight lead changes and five tied scores. Ventura, leading 37-35 at halftime, was trailing 49-47 after three periods. But it scored the first two baskets of the final period to
keep things tight. Ventura's biggest leads in the last period were by
four points, Buena's best was two points. With the win, Ventura now has a 45-38 lead in the series. It won the first meeting this year on Jan. 7, 67-57.

Mike Ostic (6'-4" Sr. C) from Ventura broke out of a three-week slump with a team-high 19 points which also was his best game of the league season. Ostic also hit eight of 13 field goal attempts and he also made all three of his free throws. Ventura (6-14, 3-6) took the lead for good 60-58 with 2:15 left on Ostic's lay-in, then made it 62-58 on a Jeff Staniland 10-foot bank shot at 1:47. Buena scored a point on Ryan Fay's free throw at 1:13 and Danny Thompson closed the margin to one with a field goal, 62-61, with 50 seconds to play. After several turnovers and missed shots by both teams, Ventura's Conner Robinson hit a free throw with 18 seconds left. Staniland nailed two free throws with one second to play for the final points. For Buena (3-18, 0-9), the biggest moment came with about three seconds to play when Fay drove the lane only to lose the ball out of bounds after being jostled hard by two Cougar players. But no foul was called, and Buena's fate was sealed. This was also a tough loss for Buena, which lost it's last three games by a total of 11 points. Fay led all scorers with 24 points, Danny Thompson added 11 and Buena outshot Ventura with 23 for 50 accuracy, 46 percent. Ventura, which shot 22 for 53 (41.5 percent), got 15 points from
Staniland.

NON-LEAGUE

Laguna Blanca 62, Newbury Park Academy 28

Senior guard David Cochran tossed in 16 points and 6-5 junior Chris Tamas added 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Owls rolled to a non-league road victory. Jon Keith, a senior post player, scored 15 for Laguna Blanca, which improved to 13-4. Laguna Blanca scoring was done by Wilson 5, Lewis 7, Tamas 14, Cochran 16, Niehaus 4, Ferguson 1, Keith 15. Newbury Park scorers were Brill 3, Cho 5, including a three-pointer, Engeberg 18, and Davis 2.