HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Malkinson Downplays Royal Basketball Jinx Against Simi Valley

Don’t try telling Royal High boys’ basketball Coach Joe Malkinson that cross-town rival Simi Valley has his team’s number.

Sure, Simi Valley came from 10 points behind in the last six minutes to upset Royal, 61-55, in a Marmonte League opener Wednesday.

And granted, Simi Valley has defeated Royal three consecutive times and in 10 of the past 11 games (the first six during the Don MacLean-Shawn DeLaittre era), yet Malkinson bristles like a cornered porcupine when asked if Simi Valley now has a psychological edge when the Pioneers play their cross-town rivals.

“I was very disappointed that we lost, but any loss is a disappointment,” said Malkinson, who is in his fourth season at Royal. “It did not matter any more or any less that it was to Simi. To beat them would have been only one win, and a loss is only one loss. . . . I’m not going to say anything controversial and make it out to be more than that.”

The defending league co-champion with Simi Valley (6-7, 1-1 in league play), Royal (10-4, 1-1) defeated Newbury Park, 70-69, Saturday night in overtime in a league game.

“We’ve got to win a lot of games to win this league,” Malkinson said. “Wednesday’s game was just one of (14 league) games.”

In remembrance: Jack Smiley, a longtime fixture at City Section sporting events in the San Fernando Valley, passed away last Saturday doing one of the things he enjoyed most--watching a high school basketball game.

Smiley, 41, suffered a cardiac arrest while keeping the score book of the Reseda-Grant game at the Birmingham tournament.

He died shortly thereafter.

“I first met Smiley, that’s what I always called him, when I was coaching at Van Nuys (1984-85 season),” Reseda Coach Jeff Halpern said. “At first I thought he was a little strange. He would tell complete strangers all about himself, but once you got to know him, you realized that he was just a real high school sports fan.

“Whenever you saw him, he’d always tell you about what was going on at this school or what was going on at that school. . . . He knew a lot of the kids. He’ll be missed.”

Constructive criticism: No one who has seen Camarillo senior David Harbour play basketball has any doubt about his talents, which will be displayed at Stanford next season. But his on-the-court demeanor leaves much to be desired.

During the recent Ventura High tournament, Harbour openly cursed officials when they called fouls against him, or when they failed to call a foul on a player who had blocked a Harbour shot or forced him into missing a shot.

Despite the histrionics, Harbour was charged with only one technical foul, and that came in Camarillo’s final game of the tournament last Saturday night.

Harbour has the talent to play at the NCAA Division I level. It is time he started showing some big-time class.

Reserve firepower: Garbage time has lost its negative connotation at Thousand Oaks High this season--the Lancers have one of their most depth-laden boys’ basketball teams in several years.

A case in point was the Ventura tournament title game last Saturday, in which Thousand Oaks defeated Buena, 103-66.

The Lancers (10-2, 1-1 in Marmonte League play) were leading Buena, 82-57, early in the fourth quarter when Coach Ed Chevalier made mass substitutions. The reserves did not miss a beat, however, outscoring the Bulldogs, 21-9, in the remainder of the contest.

During that stretch, Thousand Oaks hit six of nine shots from the field, including five of six three-point attempts.

Tony Siegel, Gal Hever and Shane May were particularly effective during that span, scoring five, six and six points, respectively.