Curtis Makes Good Use of Charity Opportunity

Tournament most valuable player Nicholas Curtis made two free throws with 24 seconds remaining and Oxnard High held on to defeat Santa Barbara, 63-62, in the championship game of the Thousand Oaks boys’ basketball tournament Saturday night at Thousand Oaks.

The Yellowjackets (7-1) overcame a six-point deficit in the final minute, led by all-tournament selection Eric Webb, who made a 10-foot jump shot with 54 seconds left and a three-point basket 21 seconds later, pulling Oxnard within 62-61.

Webb, a junior guard, then disrupted an inbounds pass by Santa Barbara guard Shawn Whilt. Oxnard was awarded the ball under the Dons’ basket, and Curtis was fouled to set up the game-winning free throws.

“I knew it was all on me, and I wasn’t going to let my teammates down,” said Curtis, a 6-foot-6 forward. “We had a lot of guys step up tonight.”

Santa Barbara (6-2) missed several shots on its final two possessions, including a 15-foot jumper by Dominique Ingerson with five seconds left and a running jumper in the lane by Whilt that bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Curtis finished with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. All-tournament selection Matt Merricks led the Yellowjackets with 17 points, including five three-pointers, but fouled out with 2:07 to play.

Ingerson scored a game-high 26 points.

In other Thousand Oaks tournament games:

The third-place game between Harvard-Westlake and Thousand Oaks was canceled because of time constraints, but Harvard-Westlake (3-1) was awarded third place because it defeated Thousand Oaks, 73-70, in a pool-play game Wednesday.

Guard Russell Lakey of Harvard-Westlake, who scored 86 points in three games, was selected to the all-tournament team.

Grant 62, Oak Park 39--Mike Charleston, an all-tournament selection, had 15 points and seven assists for Grant (4-1) in the fifth-place game.

Grant’s Krishna Evans scored 10 points and Brian Guevara had nine points.

Jeremy Murphy, an all-tournament selection, scored 22 points for the Eagles (3-2).