Camarillo Wins by Limiting Ward of Calabasas to 21

Calabasas High guard Steve Ward knows what it’s like to be a wanted man.

On offense as well as defense.

A triple-teaming defense and his own sub-par shooting were too much for Ward to overcome as Camarillo defeated Calabasas, 52-43, in a nonleague game at Calabasas on Tuesday night.

Ward was a marked man on both ends of the court.

Ward, who scored 39 points on Monday night against Beverly Hills and averaged 28 points a game last season, hit on only 5 of 19 shots in scoring 21 points against Camarillo.

“It’s kind of hard for me to say that we shut him down when he scored 21 points,” Camarillo Coach Greg Ropes said. “But I guess with a guy of his caliber, we did contain him pretty well.”

And Ropes knew what Ward was capable of, having watched him the previous night against Beverly Hills.

“We kept changing personnel on him, hoping that fresh players might wear him down,” he said. “We knew who we had to stop.”

Because of injuries, Calabasas Coach Bill Bellatty’s team consisted of only eight players, and the five starters played all but the last few minutes.

It won’t get any easier for the short-handed Coyotes who face the possibility of playing three games in the next four days, when they enter the Nordhoff tournament on Thursday.

Senior center Tim Cregor, who had a team-high 18 points, Camarillo (1-0) to a quick first-half lead on 5-for-5 shooting as the Scorpions opened up a 30-17 halftime advantage. Cregor scored most of his points from short range, as injured Calabasas center Demetrius Jones watched from the bench in street clothes. Jones, who was ineligible during football season, may miss the entire season with a ligament injury in his right foot.

Ward was limited to only eight points on 3-of-8 shooting in the half and the rest of the Calabasas team was just as cold, scoring only two field goals in the entire second period.

“We knew that Ward was the kind of guy that we could triple team, because when he gets the ball, he always shoots,” Cregor said. “You don’t really have to worry about him passing the ball to whoever you left unguarded.”

Calabasas (1-1) came within six points midway through the fourth quarter, when Chris Sorich hit the front end of a one-and-one to bring the Coyotes to within 41-35 with 6:05 left.

Calabasas again fell flat, however, going almost three minutes before scoring another point.

“We’re the kind of team that really has to execute according to the game plan to win,” Ropes said.