Winter Sports Notebook : Long Bus Ride Gives Buena Last Laugh After Last Loss

Talk about torture. Given a choice, the Buena High basketball players might rather have had their toenails pried off with rusty pliers than make the 2 1/2-hour bus ride home that faced them Friday night.

The Bulldogs had just been eliminated from the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs by Santa Ana. Their 16-game winning streak was snapped and they had scored an embarrassing 21 points in the first half.

Now they had 150 minutes to ponder their season in discomfort and darkness while a bus engine droned indifferently.

Tick, tick, tick . . . an hour went by and no one said a word. Finally, they could take the misery no longer. They opened some windows, shook off the lethargy that had gripped them since the game ended and got up the nerve to . . .

Laugh. Then they laughed some more. They laughed at each other. They laughed at themselves.

They held a contest to decide which Buena player had been most humiliated by a Santa Ana dunk. By the time they reached Ventura, the loss was as far away as Pluto, or at least it had been left somewhere on a freeway in Orange County.

“The reaction was interesting,” Buena Coach Glen Hannah said. “They took it really hard, then they went crazy. There was almost a relief.”

For the record, the winner of the contest was All-Channel League guard Mike Sandoval, who was the unwitting target of a Santa Ana dunk that landed on his head.

Add Buena: The Bulldogs finished with a record of 23-3, including a perfect record in the Channel League. The 16 wins in a row is a school record, as are the team’s average of 77.3 points a game and total of 2,010 points.

Other school records included Sandoval’s 267 assists and center Shawn Kirkeby’s field-goal percentage of 66%.

Last add Buena: The Buena girls’ and boys’ teams both posted regular-season records of 21-2, which gave the school the best twin record of any basketball program in the Southern Section. Santa Barbara, whose boys were 19-5 and whose girls were 21-2, ranked fifth.

Girls’ basketball hotbed: Four of the final eight Southern Section 4-A girls’ basketball teams were from the Channel and Marmonte leagues. The Channel teams--Santa Barbara and Buena--eliminated the Marmonte entries--Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks, in quarterfinal games last Friday night.

Missed opportunity: Ventura’s season ended on a down note last week in an 82-81 loss to Nogales when co-captain and three-year starter Joe Paul missed a free throw with four seconds to play that would have sent the second-round playoff game into overtime.

The Cougars had hoped to have a shot at upsetting No. 1-ranked Simi Valley. Instead, Nogales met the Pioneers and was buried, 110-61.

Add Ventura: Chris Hantgin, the Cougars’ other co-captain and three-year starter, had the finest game of his career against Nogales. The 6-5 forward scored a career-high 43 points--22 in the fourth quarter when Ventura staged a furious rally--and had 13 rebounds and 4 steals.

Hantgin’s point total is the second-highest in school history. Forward Norm Cowgill scored 46 against Santa Paula in 1961 for the record.

Signing: Jennifer Holly of Nordhoff High has signed a letter of intent to attend Duke in Durham, N. C., on a volleyball scholarship.

Statistics watch: Sandoval led the Southern Section in assists with his 10.3 average and Butch Hawking of Simi Valley was sixth with an 8.8 average. . . . Simi Valley’s Don MacLean ranked second in scoring with an average of 33.1 points a game.

Buena’s Mary Klemm ranked third among Southern Section girls with an average of 9.8 assists a game. Santa Clara’s Tami Adkins was seventh with a 7.8 average. . . . Suzanne Carey of St. Bonaventure was fifth with an average of 17.4 rebounds a game and Simone Cain of Hueneme was ninth with an average of 16.0.

Add Cain: Simone Cain of Hueneme High is the first county runner to be invited to the National High School Indoor track and field championships, March 13 at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

Cain, a senior, is scheduled to compete in the 400-meter run. She was eighth in the event at the state meet in Sacramento last June.

CPC Vista del Mar Hospital of Ventura has donated $1,500 to send Cain and Hueneme Coach Bill Duston to the prestigious meet.

Soccer playoffs: With both teams coming off shutouts in the semifinals Tuesday, Newbury Park will meet Royal in an all-Ventura County Southern Section 4-A Division final at 8 Friday night at Gahr High in Cerritos.

Unranked Newbury Park defeated Fountain Valley, 3-0, and second-ranked Royal beat Palos Verdes, 2-0.

Both teams will be making their first appearance in the championship game and both got there by fine play from their goalkeepers. Newbury Park’s goalkeeper is Richard Bengsten and Royal’s is Karl Holt.

Santa Paula will face Calabasas in the 1-A final Friday at noon at Gahr High. The Cardinals defeated Agoura, 2-0, Tuesday in a semifinal.

Father-son team: Ron Veres accepted a baseball coaching position at Oak Park so he could coach his son Scott Veres, who is expected to be the top hitter on the team. Scott batted .371 last season and will play second base. Ron Veres completed his first season as Oak Park football coach last fall, leading the team to a 7-4 record and an Inland Conference playoff berth.

Moorpark woes: Coach Mario Porto complains that no more than nine baseball players have attended a practice yet at Moorpark because of a flu that has made the rounds. Also, of the 13 team members, five are three-sport athletes.

JC watch: Cedric Ceballos, Ventura’s All-American sophomore forward, leads the state in scoring with an average of 28.2 points a game. Ceballos is also sixth in rebounding with an average of 11 a game.

Kenny Smith, Oxnard’s sophomore guard, was 11th in scoring with an average of 21.7 points a game.

Moorpark’s Karina Hardman ranked third in scoring among women with an average of 24.5 points a game. Jana Marquez of Ventura was eighth in scoring with a 22.3 average and second in rebounding with a 16.6 average.

Tennis news: Kraig Kerr has been named head professional at the Ojai Valley Inn Tennis Center, replacing Dave McKinney, who has been promoted to tennis director.

Kerr, 23, played at St. Mary’s College and is tennis coach at Villanova Prep.

Basketball signups: A registration session for the American Roundball Corp. youth basketball programs for junior and senior high school players is scheduled for this month at various locations.

Players eligible for the eighth- through 12th-grade boys’ division may register at three locations: Camarillo High on March 10 and 17 at 7 p.m; Agoura High on March 11 and 18 at 7 p.m.; and at Valley College on March 13 and 20 at 10 a.m. Girls who meet the same grade requirements may register at Calabasas High on March 20 at 1 p.m.

ARC also will conduct tryouts for its Future Stars program for advanced players at Gardena High on March 12 and 19 at noon.

Information: 818-995-3761.