Arenas, Sylmar Get Reacquainted

There’s no reason for Coach Howard Levine of Grant High to play down the importance of his team’s East Valley League showdown against Sylmar at 4 p.m. today.

“It’s going to be huge,” Levine said.

Grant (17-4, 5-1 in league play) has been preparing all season for the Spartans (18-5, 5-1).

Levine toughened his nonleague schedule and has worked hard to develop players to support All-City guard Gilbert Arenas, who is averaging 35.8 points.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Arenas flirted with the idea of transferring to Sylmar, playing several games with the Spartans last summer.

An anonymous caller left a message for Coach Bort Escoto of Sylmar last week, predicting Arenas would score 46 points today.

Arenas has looked forward to the matchup for weeks.

“It’s exciting,” he said.

Sylmar is considered the favorite because of its size and depth.

However, Grant has proven it can play well against quality teams.

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Ventura (13-9, 3-2) has bounced back from a 75-64 loss to Camarillo two weeks ago to win three consecutive games entering its Channel League showdown tonight against first-place Santa Barbara (21-2, 5-0).

The Cougars were outscored, 26-12, in the fourth quarter by Camarillo, but have maintained fourth-quarter leads in their last three games.

“We struggled in the fourth quarter for much of the season,” Coach Dan Larson said. “We just had a hard time winning games when we got tired in the fourth quarter. The game against Camarillo showed us that we had to get better at holding leads late in the game.”

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Eric Rohwer, a 6-foot-9 senior center for Burbank, will not play the rest of the season because of a hip injury, Coach Ron Quarterman said.

Rohwer, who has signed with San Diego State, last played on Jan. 22 against Burroughs. Quarterman said Rohwer was injured at a tournament in Bakersfield in December, then fell on his hip last month.

“He’s not able to run or jump,” Quarterman said. Burbank is 5-15.

GIRLS’ NOTES

Moorpark (19-1), ranked No. 2 in the region by The Times, is four victories away from a 12-0 season in its first year in the Marmonte League.

But Coach Nori Parvin of Newbury Park is conceding nothing entering the Panthers’ game tonight against visiting Moorpark.

Newbury Park (10-9, 4-4) routed second-place Simi Valley, 64-41, last Friday and challenged Moorpark in a 59-56 loss Jan. 8.

Senior Damaris Hinojosa of Moorpark, The Times’ Ventura County player of the year last season, had 24 points and 16 rebounds in the first game against Newbury Park.

“Damaris is going to score her 25 to 30,” Parvin said. “We just have to stop everyone else. If we do that, we’ve got a good chance at preventing them from going undefeated.”

Staff writers John Ortega and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this notebook.