Wallace Quits, Amar Kicked Off Oxnard Men’s Basketball Team

Less than two weeks after nearly knocking off the No. 1-ranked team in the state, the Oxnard College men’s basketball team is reeling.

The Condors were edged by Ventura, 70-68, in overtime in a Western State Conference North Division game Jan. 30, and things have gone downhill since.

Center Art Wallace quit the team Saturday and Coach Remy McCarthy kicked forward Steve Amar off the team that evening at practice because of a “serious disagreement.”

On top of that, point guard Chris Cole suffered a separated right shoulder during a 54-53 loss to Santa Barbara City on Feb. 3 and did not play in the Condors’ 84-51 loss to Moorpark on Wednesday.

McCarthy hopes to have Cole back for Saturday’s game at Cuesta, but he said that there is no chance of Wallace or Amar being reinstated.

“As far as I’m concerned, they’ve played their last game for Oxnard College,” McCarthy said. “They will not be back.”

Oxnard is 16-11, 2-3 in division play.

Wallace, a 6-foot-10 sophomore center from Crane High in Chicago, was an All-WSC North Division selection last season but he began this season in McCarthy’s doghouse. “Basically, I didn’t get along with him,” Wallace said. “From the start of the year, he was just on me.”

McCarthy benched Wallace for the first two games of the season and for two later games because he said that Wallace was not putting forth a consistent effort in practice. “It was OK at the start of the season,” Wallace said. “I knew I had messed up. He wanted me to play harder and motivate myself and I understood that. But things just didn’t seem to get any better.”

Amar, a 6-4 freshman from Santa Clara High, was part of a highly touted recruiting class that included Lance Fay of Buena and Cole, who is from Santa Clara.

Amar said he had gotten along with McCarthy, but that McCarthy “went off” when Amar, Tony Ziuraitis, Eddie Madec and Kalif Fazil were 15 minutes late for Saturday’s practice.

McCarthy, in his fifth season at Oxnard, told the tardy players that they would have to run extra laps. Amar questioned the punishment. “I just recalled a time earlier in the season when a couple of players forgot their gear and practice started late because of them, and they didn’t end up running laps,” Amar said.

McCarthy said he became very upset at that point, and when Amar began laughing during the coach’s tirade, McCarthy kicked Amar off the team.