Camarillo Halts Simi Valley’s Streak

Sometime between Wednesday and Friday, and somewhere along the road between Camarillo and Simi Valley, Camarillo High’s basketball team solved an identity crisis.

It looked in a mirror after Wednesday’s 15-point loss to Westlake and concluded it was better than the team that shot 29% and turned the ball over 21 times. And did something about it Friday night, handing host Simi Valley a 65-55 loss in a Marmonte League game.

The loss dropped Simi Valley (15-8, 7-3) out of a three-way tie for first place, jeopardizing the Pioneers’ quest for a fifth consecutive league title, and ended a 28-game league home winning streak that dates to Jan. 9, 1985.

The win gave Camarillo (15-8, 6-5) a boost at a crucial juncture of an inconsistent season hampered by injuries and illnesses.

“We were so horrible Wednesday, and I was so mad, they knew they had to play better,” Camarillo Coach John Harbour said. “They had to redeem themselves.”

Camarillo more than made up for the earlier collapse. It established from the start that it didn’t want anything to do with Simi Valley’s triangle-and-two defense on David Harbour, the Valley-area’s leading scorer at 29 points a game. Harbour, a 6-foot-3 junior, struggled with the same defense against Westlake and hit only four of 20 shots.

Camarillo won the opening tip and held the ball until Simi Valley abandoned the defense. “We just weren’t going to play against it,” John Harbour said.

Simi Valley switched to a man-to-man defense, and Harbour finished with a game-high 27 points. Camarillo hit 23 of 46 shots and had just nine turnovers. The Scorpions were eight of 17 from three-point range.

Camarillo raced to a 15-6 lead on Harbour’s jump shot with 3:06 left in the first quarter and led, 30-17, on Harbour’s three-point play with 5:01 left in the first half. The Scorpions led, 40-28, at halftime after Brian Vellmure hit a three-point shot at the buzzer.

Simi Valley pulled to within 56-50 on Kenny Hood’s jumper with 5:25 to play but Harbour scored seven points to extend Camarillo’s lead to 63-53 with 3:33 left.

Camarillo guard Rick Schnell scored 11 first-quarter points and finished with 17.