Drezner’s Solo Act Lacks Support, 67-56

Early in Calabasas High’s game Wednesday night, two Coyote fans in the stands were complaining that one player, Jon Drezner, can’t win games with a solo effort.

This was while the 6-3 1/2 senior guard was scoring his team’s first 14 points as the Coyotes took a one-point lead. But Drezner couldn’t do it all and Calabasas lost to Newbury Park, 67-56, in the opening round of the Thousand Oaks tournament.

Who says wanna-be-coaches in the peanut gallery are always wrong?

“How many points did Jon have?” Calabasas coach Bill Bellatty asked. “There’s no way you can win with one guy scoring that many points. We had no balance.”

Drezner finished with 27 points, nearly half of his team’s total. But Drezner, who played the entire game, didn’t intend to be a one-man show.

“I was just trying hard and got hot, so the team started passing to me,” Drezner said.

After Drezner, Jeff Bell finished with 11 points, but no other Coyote had more than five.

Newbury Park also had one dominating player in Wayne Cook, a junior forward who had 22 points.

It was Cook--who played quarterback on the Panther football team--and the three other Newbury Park players who also play football, that proved to be the difference. The Panthers had lost to Calabasas, 59-58, just last week.

“I know it’s been just a week, but we’ve improved every game since we lost to them,” Newbury Park Coach Ken Barone said. “The football players, I mean the basketball players, have had more time to practice and get into our game.”

But football-basketball players were not the only two-sport athletes scoring for the Panthers. Guard Jeff Berman, a pitcher for the baseball team, scored 12 points for Newbury Park (4-2).

Calabasas (3-4) led early in the second quarter, but trailed at halftime, 25-20. Newbury Park took control of the game on three unanswered three-point shots, two by Berman and one by Cook, that gave the Panthers a 39-25 lead and control of the game.

“We just weren’t hitting our three-point shots, and we didn’t have a big guy inside to go to,” Bellatty said.

Calabasas played without center Kevin Menteer, who missed the team bus to the game.

Newbury Park plays Ventura, also a winner Wednesday, tonight at 8 p.m.

Ventura defeated the Thousand Oaks junior varsity, 69-55, in a game noteworthy primarily for being played with only one official.

Chris Hangtin, who was most-valuable player in last week’s Beverly Hills Tournament, led Ventura (5-0) with 15 points.