THOUSAND OAKS TOURNAMENT : Calabasas Finds Itself on Short End Against Thousand Oaks

Not many teams figure to measure up size-wise to the Thousand Oaks High boys’ basketball team.

Least of all Calabasas.

The proof was in the 99-24 pounding Thousand Oaks gave the Coyotes on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Thousand Oaks tournament.

Led by 6-foot-7 identical-twin seniors Paul and Nick Foster, who scored 30 and 24 points, Thousand Oaks (4-1), fresh off a second-place finish in the Simi Valley tournament, marched into the gym with five players as tall as 6-6.

Meanwhile, Calabasas (0-2), with no one on the roster taller than 6-2, had four six-footers in the lineup.

The long and the short of it?

“Intimidation from the very beginning,” Calabasas Coach Bill Bellatty said.

Ridiculous was more like it. Calabasas did not even come close to scoring in the first quarter and the Lancers took a 23-0 lead into the second quarter. By halftime, Thousand Oaks led, 49-3.

Senior forward Jason Hartman (6-6) chipped in with 19 points, and six others added at least one basket.

After three quarters, Thousand Oaks led, 78-16.

Substitution came early. But Lancer Coach Ed Chevalier valued the lopsided win.

“We wanted to work on some things offensively, and we did,” Chevalier said. “We’ve talked about our expectations and the goals we’ve set for ourselves. If the stats I have are correct, our free-throw shooting was decent.”

Thousand Oaks made 24 of 32 (75%) from the free-throw line. Nick Foster led the team with 10 of 11 free throws.

Guard Noel Bloom led Calabasas with 10 points.

Oxnard 68, Alemany 57--David Winner had 16 points and 14 rebounds for Alemany, but consecutive six-point periods--the second and the third--doomed the Indians (1-4).

Brian Gallardo scored a game-high 22 points for Oxnard.