Westlake Shackles Camarillo, Forges Tie for First Place

Westlake High has built a strong basketball program behind Coach Greg Hess and his emphasis on defense, and never had it been more evident than Wednesday night during a 58-43 win over visiting Camarillo in a Marmonte League game.

Westlake (13-7, 7-2) made a shambles of Camarillo, which features high-scoring David Harbour, and moved into a three-way tie for first place with Royal and Simi Valley with three league games remaining.

Camarillo (14-8, 5-5) was only 15 of 52 from the field (29%) and suffered through its lowest offensive output of the season. Harbour, who went into the game as the leading scorer in the Valley area at 29 points a game, was just four of 20 from the field and three of 11 from the line. He was harassed by a triangle-and-two defense and finished with 12 points.

Camarillo scored 95 points Monday against Channel Islands.

“We play defense,” assured Hess, who is in his third season at Westlake. “We call it our ‘Psycho D.’ That’s the name of the game.”

Call it what you will--just call Camarillo Coach John Harbour a taxi; he probably wanted to get as far away from Westlake as possible after watching his team turn the ball over 21 times and hit only 10 of 24 free throws.

“That was, by far, our worst game of the season,” Harbour said. “You have to give them credit, but we played horrible.”

Camarillo began playing that way in the second quarter. The Scorpions started the quarter two of 10 from the field and zero of three from the line, and they also had four turnovers during a 14-5 run by Westlake that gave the Warriors a 32-18 lead with 1 minute 30 seconds left in the half.

“We definitely got them frustrated,” Hess said.

Camarillo’s woes also spilled over to its defensive game. The Scorpions tried to contend with Westlake’s big front line without foul-plagued center Scott Foster.

“We had a good game inside,” Hess said. “We had some good passes underneath and did a good job on the boards.”

Westlake’s trio of 6-6 players--John Van Spyk (15 points, seven rebounds), Matt Heckmann (12 points, 10 rebounds) and B. J. Sena (six rebounds and two blocks)--dominated the inside.

Guard Essam Ibrahim added 11 points, five assists and three steals and Dave Monheim played strong defense against Harbour.

Westlake was 22 of 34 from the line.