Simi Valley Tames Arenas, Grant

Rafael Berumen scored a game-high 32 points and No. 1-ranked Simi Valley High contained prolific scorer Gilbert Arenas as it advanced to the championship game of its own tournament with an 86-55 victory over Grant Friday night at Simi Valley.

Arenas connected on nearly everything he put up, scoring 23 points, but his opportunities were limited by the Pioneers’ defense.

“We tried to limit the amount of touches he had,” Simi Valley Coach Dean Bradshaw said of the Arizona-bound Arenas, who scored 43 and 39 points in two previous tournament games. “We tried to eliminate any follow shots. The night before he must have scored eight or nine points on follow shots.”

The Lancers (2-1) jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but Simi Valley (3-0) broke the game open with a 19-3 run in the second quarter.

Berumen also had 12 rebounds. Teammate Brett Michel just missed a triple-double, scoring 13 points with 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Simi Valley will play Santa Clara tonight in the championship game.

In the other Simi Valley tournament semifinal:

Santa Clara 74, Camarillo 44--Nick Jones scored 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and B.J. Ward scored 16 points and had eight rebounds as Santa Clara cruised to Coach Lou Cvijanovich’s career victory No. 803.

A victory over Simi Valley tonight would make Cvijanovich the state’s winningest high school basketball coach.