Waggoner Blankets Cook and Westlake Rips Newbury Park

Mike Waggoner scored 6 points in a basketball game Wednesday night. Six. That’s it. None of them at crucial times.

There was an 18-foot jump shot in the first quarter and a couple of layups after that. Now, 6 points don’t go very far, but points aren’t what Waggoner’s game is about.

Rebounds are.

And defense is.

That is why, in the aftermath of Westlake High’s 69-44 rout of Marmonte League rival Newbury Park, the talk wasn’t about Kurt Schwan’s 27 points, impressive as they were. It was about Waggoner’s rebounding and defense.

The 6-foot, 5-inch senior hauled in 17 rebounds and, playing Wayne Cook man-to-man from the get go, held Newbury Park’s leading scorer to 12 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field.

“Cook was really the key, I think,” Waggoner said. “That was my job. It wasn’t scoring.”

Waggoner’s workmanlike effort did not go unnoticed by either coach.

Said Westlake Coach Greg Hess: “Waggoner had a great game. He had the best timing on the floor.”

And, Newbury Park Coach Ken Barone: “I was impressed with his rebounding, and I was impressed with his defense on Wayne Cook. Give the guy credit, he held him down pretty good.”

While Waggoner was going about his business, Schwan, B. J. Sena and Jeff Maurer were leading the offense that outscored the Panthers, 10-2, at the start.

Newbury Park (12-5 overall, 3-4 in league play) came within 3 at 16-13 but then trailed by as many as 17 points in the second quarter and never regrouped.

Schwan, who also grabbed 10 rebounds, made 11 of 16 field-goal attempts. Sena came off the bench for 13 points and Maurer, the point guard whose steadying play has been a key to the Warriors’ 5-2 league record, added 10 points. Westlake is 12-7 overall.

“We were really up for this game,” Waggoner said. “This is it. We have two losses in league, one more and no championship.”

Hess lamented his team’s tendency to play sporadically in the past, but the Warriors dominated Newbury Park in nearly every phase of the game. Westlake outrebounded the Panthers, 35-18.

“We’re so up and down,” Hess said, “but we’ve come out and played some games like this where we’re awesome. I thought we got it inside to Kurt real well.”

The win allowed Westlake to remain within a game of first-place Simi Valley. Newbury Park fell further into the middle of the pack, far below expectations.

“We can’t take anything away from them, they played very, very well,” Barone said.

Cook was the only Panther to score in double figures, and he and Amir El Farra led the team with 5 rebounds each. Newbury Park made just 15 of 53 field-goal attempts compared to 26 of 59 for Westlake.