Harvard Blows Out Santa Barbara, Fans

If Harvard-Westlake High was looking for a little competition it came to the wrong place.

And if the Wolverines didn’t realize Santa Barbara would be a pushover in Wednesday night’s pool-play game in the Thousand Oaks boys’ basketball tournament, the fans certainly did.

Nearly half of the estimated 100 people in the Thousand Oaks High gymnasium for the 7:45 p.m. tipoff were gone by the second Santa Barbara timeout.

Fewer than 50 were interested enough to stay for the end of the 72-37 rout by the Wolverines, who feature twins Jason and Jarron Collins.

Harvard-Westlake (3-0) could have scored 100 points had it maintained its first-quarter pace of 26-5.

But Coach Greg Hilliard twice called off his starters, sitting them down for the final 11 minutes.

“This has always been a tough tournament for us,” Hilliard said. “But we’re emptying the arena. We did last night, too.”

Guards Ryan Smiley and Rico Cabrera each had 15 points for the Wolverines, defending state Division III champions.

The Collins twins barely broke a sweat, Jason scoring 13 points and adding five blocked shots with five rebounds.

Jarron had seven points, eight rebounds and six steals.

The Collinses intimidated Santa Barbara (1-6), which got eight points and 10 rebounds from 6-foot-6 center Ryan Atkinson, who was most productive after Harvard-Westlake’s starters took a seat for good.

Even the Dons’ toughest-looking character wilted. Starting guard Jade Roosevelt, whose left shoulder is tattooed with the face of a demented clown, went scoreless.

In another tournament game:

Newbury Park 77, Oak Park 71--Daniel Bobik had 22 points, six steals, six rebounds and five assists for the Panthers (4-3).