High School Basketball : Simi Valley Loses in Own Tournament

As far as trial runs go for first-year Coach Dean Bradshaw and his Simi Valley basketball team, it wasn’t crowd-pleasing. But it could have been worse.

“We’re frustrated by the loss, by all means,” Bradshaw said after Dos Pueblos defeated the Pioneers, 74-73, Friday in the first round of the Simi Valley tournament.

Junior Steve Carnes, the Pioneers’ only returning player, scored 13 points in the final quarter to lead a comeback effort that fell just short. Carnes finished with a game-high 23 points.

Simi Valley fell behind by as many as 15 points in the first half. Dos Pueblos, however, did not score a field goal in the third quarter and the Pioneers came back to take a 45-43 lead. It would be their last.

The Chargers hit 6 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold off Simi Valley, the defending Southern Section 4-A Division champion. Bill Barey led Dos Pueblos with 20 points.

“There is a lot of pressure,” Carnes said. “We had something to prove but we came up short.”

The loss means Simi Valley will not win its own tournament for the first time in the 4-year history of the event.