THOUSAND OAKS TOURNAMENT : Foster Twins, Thousand Oaks Dismantle Oxnard, 89-36

Another nail-biter for Thousand Oaks High.

The Lancer basketball team beat Oxnard, 89-36, on Thursday night in a semifinal of the Thousand Oaks tournament. In the first round, the Lancers beat Calabasas, 99-24.

And once again, the story for Thousand Oaks was the play of Paul and Nick Foster.

Paul scored a game-high 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting and pulled down 18 rebounds.

Nick scored 18 points on seven-of-10 shooting.

The twins took full advantage of their height--Nick is 6-foot-7 and Paul is 6-6--against Oxnard, which has one player taller than 6-3, but Thousand Oaks Coach Ed Chevalier warns not to label them according to their size.

“They’re good players,” he said. “If they were 6-foot, they’d be good players. If they were 6-footers, they’d be bombing three-pointers.”

They didn’t bomb anything Thursday night. They just placed the ball in the basket on a variety of layups and dunks.

One stretch in the third quarter, long after the Lancers had put the game away, symbolized the Thousand Oaks style.

The Lancers led, 58-31, midway through the third quarter, then ran off 15 straight points on six layups, two dunks and a free throw.

Thousand Oaks (5-1) will meet Hueneme in the championship game at 8 tonight.

“They’re playing well,” Chevalier said of the Vikings, who beat Faith Baptist, 63-41, in the other semifinal. “They’ve now done a good job shutting down an opponent’s strength two games in a row.”

Oxnard (2-1), which will meet Faith Baptist in the third-place game at 6:30, started in a hurry against Thousand Oaks. Senior Brian Gallardo, who made five three-point shots and scored 20 points, connected on his first two tries from beyond the arc and Oxnard led, 6-0.

The highlights ended there.

Thousand Oaks led, 21-15, after the first quarter and put the game away by holding Oxnard scoreless for the first six minutes of the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Lancers scored 12 in a row during a 21-6 run.

Junior guard Peter Lauer scored 17 points for Thousand Oaks, including three three-pointers, and junior forward Jason Hartman added 13.

Those two and the Foster twins shot a combined 30-of-42 from the field.

Oxnard’s Larry Bumpus was held to six points.

Hueneme 63, Faith Baptist 41--Hueneme maintained at least a 10-point lead throughout the semifinal to hand Faith Baptist its first loss while earning a berth in tonight’s championship game against Thousand Oaks.

Faith Baptist (5-1), which won its own tournament last week, played tough defense against Hueneme, stealing the ball 17 times, but the Contenders could not turn the possessions into points.

David Andrade paced Hueneme (2-0) with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Teammates George Jones (game-high 14 points), Tremaine Jones (13) and Wendell Nunnery (11) also scored in double figures.

The Contenders were led by freshman T.J. McCoy with 11 points. Faith Baptist clearly missed sophomore guard Tony Hoggatts, who scored 20 points against St. Monica but did not play against Hueneme for academic reasons.

Matt Cooper led Faith Baptist (5-1) with 11 points.

Alemany 82, Calabasas 60--Four players scored in double figures to lead the Indians (2-4) to the consolation final against St. Monica at 4:30 today.

Three of four Alemany players suspended from the team for using abusive language at a girls’ game have been reinstated after one game.

Center Mike Corr and guard Doug Tait played against Calabasas (0-3), while the third player, guard Mike Corelli, had a prior commitment. Reserve guard Matt Lufrano, who was placed on probation by the school, was not reinstated.

St. Monica 66, Newbury Park 45--Senior Winston Hardson scored 10 points in the second half to lead St. Monica in a consolation semifinal game.

Newbury Park (1-4) was led by Leodes Van Buren, who scored 16 points. Senior Thinh Vo added 10.