WINTER SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS : Calabasas Finds the Winning Zone and Defeats Antelope Valley, 46-44

If defensive basketball is to your liking, Calabasas High was the place to be last night. Utilizing an aggressive zone defense, Calabasas held Antelope Valley to just four points in the final quarter to nail down a 46-44 nonleague victory at Calabasas.

Calabasas, 10-6 and ranked ninth in The Times Valley poll, survived a close game when a shot in the final minute by Antelope Valley’s Reggie Betton bounced off the front rim and was snared by Coyote forward John Drezner, who held the ball as time ran out.

Although the game came down to the final seconds, early on, it looked like the Coyotes would have no problems.

Calabasas Coach Bill Bellatty has his team switch defenses every few minutes throughout the first half, a tactic that seemed to frustrate Antelope Valley.

On offense, Coyote senior forward Steve Ward connected on outside jumpers for 14 of his 18 points in the first half. Center Jeff Bell had 12 points and Drezner 10.

At intermission, Calabasas held a 28-21 lead. And then, everything changed.

“We only had eight guys so I couldn’t keep going back and forth with defenses,” Bellatty said.

So Calabasas went man-to-man for the entire third period, and Antelope Valley (5-10) outscored Calabasas, 19-9, to take a 40-37 lead. Antelope Valley center Joe Wilson inflicted most of the damage, scoring 10 of his game-high 21 points in the quarter.

But Calabasas went to its strength in the fourth quarter and played outstanding defense. Switching back to a zone defense, the Coyotes held Wilson and Antelope Valley to four points over the last eight minutes.

Still, Bellatty was not satisfied.

“We just had no intensity, maybe because of the holiday layoff,” he said. “Usually when we play man-to-man it gets our intensity up.”