Ventura County Teams Alive in 3 Playoff Divisions : Buena, Simi Valley Advance in Basketball

Buena and Simi Valley high used contrasting styles to win second-round basketball playoff games Tuesday night.

Buena ran past El Toro, 95-90, in overtime. Simi Valley punched out Warren, 74-54. Both teams advanced to the quarterfinals in the Southern Section’s 4-A division. Buena (23-2) travels to Rancho Santiago College in Orange County on Friday to play Santa Ana.

Simi Valley (24-3) plays the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Ventura and Nogales at a site to be determined today.

In other playoff games on Friday, Santa Clara, which defeated Paso Robles, 52-40, on Tuesday, plays Duarte in a 2-A division game. St. Bonaventure, a 42-39 winner over Brethren last week, plays Bellermine-Jefferson in a 1-A game at Ventura High.

Buena, which has won 16 in a row, made 34 of 62 field goal attempts against El Toro. The Bulldogs, champions of the Marmonte League, got 28 points from center Shawn Kirkeby, who was 6 for 6 shooting in the fourth quarter.

“I felt I could score anytime I wanted to,” the 6-10 senior said. “I wasn’t sure at first, but when they stopped doubling me early in the game, I knew I was going to score.”

El Toro (20-6) was forced to drop the double team because of the outside shooting capability of Buena guards Mike Sandoval and Jeff Oliver.

“They have such good outside shooters that we had to defend him one on one,” El Toro Coach Tim Travers said of Kirkeby. “He’s really tough.”

And so was Sandoval, who had 23 points--including six free throws in the overtime period. Oliver had 13 points and Craig Rasmussen had 16.

The pace was blistering from start to finish with El Toro using some accurate three-point shooting by Eric Speaker and Bret Johnson to stay close most of the way. Speaker had 27 points and Johnson had 33.

Simi Valley, the 4-A’s top seed, was locked in a tight battle with Warren, but outscored the Bears, 28-13, in the game’s final five minutes.

Don MacLean had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Pioneers. Shawn DeLaittre had 15 points and 8 rebounds and Butch Hawking had 19 points. There were 28 fouls in the game--17 on Warren.

Santa Clara (18-8) advanced by scoring the final 14 points of the game against Paso Robles. The Saints were trailing, 40-38, midway through the fourth quarter, but didn’t allow another point.

Art Santana led Santa Clara with 17 points--including 11 in the final period. Kawami Joyner had 15 and Bubba Burrage had 8 points and 11 rebounds.

St. Bonaventure (21-2), which shot poorly in its win over Brethren, will be up against its quickest opponent of the season in Bell-Jeff.

“They’re not real big, but they jump well and are real fast,” St. Bonaventure Coach Marc Groff said of Bell-Jeff. “That could cause a few problems for us.”

Bell-Jeff’s tallest starter is 6-2 Nick Sanderson, which means Andy Wagoner, St. Bonaventure’s 6-6 center, could have a big game.

If the Seraphs can get him the ball.

“They’re so quick, the passes into the post had better be good,” Groff said. “But if we get it there, Andy should be able to put up some points.”

In its first-round game against Brethren, St. Bonaventure shot only 25%, but still managed to win.

“That shows how good of a defensive team we are,” Groff said. “If we shoot 45 to 50% like we’ve done before, we bury them. You can still win games with defense.”