Westlake Suspends Stewart for Season

Drew Stewart, a two-year starter on the Westlake High boys’ basketball team, has been suspended from the team for the rest of the season, Coach Gary Grayson said Tuesday.

Grayson said Stewart, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, was suspended for throwing a ball in the direction of two referees after Westlake’s 59-57 loss to Thousand Oaks on Jan. 28.

Stewart, who was averaging 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds, allegedly was upset because no foul was called in the closing seconds of the game after teammate Joey Cuppari tried to foul a Thousand Oaks player to stop the clock.

Grayson originally suspended Stewart for one game, but school administrators suspended Stewart from school for three days. Grayson said that suspended students at Westlake can be made ineligible for athletic competition for one year.

“I was surprised because all of a sudden Drew fired the ball across the court in a straight line in the direction of the referees,” Grayson said. “It was a line drive. I was stunned.”

Grayson said that David Graber, Westlake’s assistant principal, intercepted the ball.

Stewart refused comment. His mother, Sharon, said he threw the ball in the direction of the referees, but that the ball bounced three or four times before it got near them.

“What Drew did was wrong,” she said. “But he didn’t deserve to be suspended for the rest of the season.”

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Bull’s-eye: Jeff Stuteville of Camarillo High is 32 of 32 from the free-throw line in the past three games.

The 6-1 senior guard is shooting 82.5% (132 of 160) from the free-throw line.

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Ups and downs: Tuesday was a day of mixed emotions for Glen Hannah, boys’ basketball coach at Buena.

Hannah, in his 17th season at Buena, said he felt good about the Bulldogs upsetting San Marcos, 72-68, in overtime Monday to win their first Channel League game of the season. But he was also somber about the finality of Buena’s season ending with games against Hueneme today and Rio Mesa on Thursday.

The Bulldogs (4-20, 1-11 in league play) have qualified for the Southern Section playoffs 15 times under Hannah, but there is no chance of that happening this season. The Bulldogs won’t be among the top four teams in the Channel League and they won’t win 10 games, the minimum number required for teams to be considered for an at-large playoff berth.

“It’s kind of weird to know that today is definitely our last practice,” Hannah said Tuesday.

BASEBALL

In the mix: Manny Alvarado, coach at Kennedy High, has been selected as one of the coaches for the South team in the North-South state all-star games June 12-14 in San Bernardino.

The three-game series features graduating high school seniors from California.

Alvarado has guided Kennedy to three City Section Division 4-A championships.

SOCCER

Dynamic duo: Whereas many boys’ teams rely on an imposing player to score goals on the forward line, Calabasas has a diminutive duo in senior Brian Lando and sophomore Itzik Rappaport.

The players, each 5-6, had combined for 33 goals and 27 jassists after defeating Frontier League foe Santa Clara on Monday.