Channel Islands Looms Large : Basketball: Even with a small lineup, the Raiders have made big strides, including a 73-55 victory over Agoura.

How’s this for consistency?

The Channel Islands High boys’ basketball team scored 18 points in the first quarter, 18 in the second quarter, 18 in the third and, well, 19 in the fourth.

It was more than enough to offset an inconsistent Agoura team during the Raiders’ 73-55 Marmonte League victory Friday night at Channel Islands.

O.J. Thomas treated himself to an early birthday present, scoring 15 points and orchestrating an efficient Channel Islands offense.

But the real story was the Channel Islands defense. The Raiders employed a full-court press and a half-court trap that stymied Agoura, which made only 22 of 55 shots (40%).

“We wear teams down with our pressure,” said Thomas, who turns 16 on Saturday. “That’s all we do--keep coming at ‘em.”

Agoura standout Brian Laibow scored only six points and was two of 12 from the field as Channel Islands beat the Chargers for the first time since the 1989-90 season.

“We’re going to wake a few people up in our league,” Raiders’ Coach Gary Abraham said. “We really played one of our best games of the year.

“We’ve had to put pressure on teams because height-wise, we just don’t have players that can walk the ball up and down the court,” added Abraham, whose starting lineup averages 5 feet 11.

Channel Islands (7-1, 2-0 in league play) defeated Newbury Park on Wednesday and already has matched its league victory total from last season.

Agoura (3-4, 0-2), which has earned a share of the Marmonte title the past two seasons, needs to recover.

“They did everything better than we did,” said Agoura Coach Kevin Pasky, who was especially displeased with the Chargers’ inability to break the press.

The second quarter was indicative of the game.

Channel Islands mixed in its all-out press with its half-court trap and harassed the Chargers into four-of-13 shooting.

Offensively, Charles Merricks scored six of his 21 points on a pair of three-point baskets to send the Raiders on a 10-2 run that broke an 18-18 tie.

Joel Weiss had 19 points for Agoura and Josh Portnoy added 16, but Laibow’s absence from the scoring leaders was bad news for the Chargers.

“You have to give our kids credit,” Abraham said. “We took the ball out of his hands.”