Thousand Oaks Sets Sights on Title After Win

It is difficult to find a Thousand Oaks High player who hasn’t studied his history.

One lesson, in particular, stands out. That would be the year 1977, which is the last time the Lancers won a Marmonte League championship.

And Friday night’s top student was senior forward Chris Loll, who scored a game-high 23 points to lead Thousand Oaks past host Camarillo, 70-51, in a game involving teams tied for first place in the league standings.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve won a championship, and this team wants it really bad,” Loll said.

So much, in fact, that the Lancers have shrugged off a slow start in league play to win six in a row and improve to 16-3 overall, 7-2 in league play. Thousand Oaks, which has posted its most wins in a single season since 1984, is in a first-place tie with Channel Islands (15-4, 7-2).

Thousand Oaks made it clear from the outset that it wasn’t the same team that Camarillo defeated, 96-76, Jan. 4 at Thousand Oaks. The Lancers scrapped their man-to-man defense, scored the first eight points and led, 16-3, after one quarter.

A 1-1-3 defense, which the Lancers implemented during practice Thursday, helped force Camarillo (12-5, 6-3) to miss its first 13 shots. The Scorpions hit four of 25 shots in the first half.

Thousand Oaks led, 29-19, at halftime and never allowed Camarillo, which dropped its second game in a row, within seven points thereafter. Fourteen players entered the game for Thousand Oaks.

“The last time we played them, it was our worst defensive game of the year,” Loll said. “We wanted to shut everybody down this time.”

The Lancers almost did. Camarillo guard David Harbour, who entered the game averaging 26 points a game, scored 20 but was only six of 24 from the field. No other player reached double figures for the Scorpions, who were 15 of 59 (25%) from the field.

“It was tough for us to hit our shots,” Harbour said.

A big reason for the Lancers’ success was the play of guards Scott Peterson, who scored a season-high 18 points, and Brian Capella (13 points and four steals).

And Thousand Oaks also dominated the inside with Loll (11 rebounds), Dusty Lysobey (10 rebounds) and Scott Simpson, who came off the bench to contribute eight rebounds, seven points and three steals.