Simi Valley Hits the Skids

It’s time to wave a white flag, take a deep breath and admit the hard, painful truth: Simi Valley High has a talented basketball team, but the Pioneers aren’t close to challenging the elite teams in Southern Section Division I-A.

Two years ago, it was Long Beach Poly that eliminated the Pioneers in a quarterfinal. Last season, it was Artesia in a semifinal that ended the Pioneers’ season. And on Tuesday night in a I-A semifinal, 12-time champion Mater Dei did the honors, defeating the Pioneers, 56-43, at the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine.

These aren’t just any schools repeatedly standing in the way of Simi Valley (28-3) winning a championship. They’re the best of the best.

“I don’t think they’ve seen that kind of intensity on defense before,” Coach Gary McKnight of Mater Dei said after his team’s aggressive man-to-man allowed the Pioneers to make only 30% (16 of 53).

This was a season of high expectations for Simi Valley. With 6-foot-9 senior center Rafael Berumen, the Pioneers thought they had the size and experience to overcome Mater Dei’s depth and tradition.

Simi Valley’s only losses were against teams outside California--one from New Jersey, the other from Louisiana.

What was so disappointing about Simi Valley’s performance Tuesday was that the Pioneers were never in the game. They led only once, 9-8, with 1:02 left in the first quarter. They trailed by as many as 16 points in the third quarter. They made a brief run, closing to 44-37 with 4:46 remaining. But the outcome was never in doubt.

“I give Mater Dei a lot of credit,” Coach Dean Bradshaw of Simi Valley said. “I didn’t think there would be a game that we would be held to 43 points. It’s disappointing, it’s sad and right now it hurts. We wanted to go all the way and put a ring on their fingers.”

Who were those impostors wearing Simi Valley’s maroon and gold uniforms in the first half? The Pioneers made 28% of their shots (eight of 28), committed 14 turnovers and played as if they had forgotten everything that helped them win 28 games.

There was poor shot selection, only two assists, no aggressiveness, few second efforts. It all translated into a 34-19 halftime deficit for the Pioneers.

At least in the second half, Simi Valley started pressing and attacking. But Mater Dei (30-3) did too good a job stopping the Pioneers’ top players.

Berumen was limited to 13 points. Sophomore point guard Shaun Michel, who usually spends more time passing than shooting, was forced to launch 15 shots. He made four and committed eight turnovers. Branduinn Fullove made three of 10 shots and Brett Michel was three of nine.

“We didn’t step up and it hurts a lot,” Fullove said. “They defended all over the floor. They knew where we were going, when we were going. They had a guy on me everywhere.”

The question is, can Simi Valley learn from three consecutive years of defeats to high-profiled programs? What will it take to come up with a breakthrough win?

“I just think we’re going to have to remember this,” Fullove said. “It’s probably the hardest-felt pain I’ve had to feel.”

Give Shaun Michel credit for never giving up. He was struggling, and the turnovers were mounting, but he kept attacking and his head was up in the locker room afterward as he talked about what he and his teammates need to work on to earn a return engagement next season.

“The thing is, we can beat teams if we play our hardest,” he said. “It’s sad every year [in the playoffs], but we have to learn from this.”

No one felt worse than Berumen, who played in his final high school game. Few players in Simi Valley history have enjoyed a season quite like the New Mexico-bound center. He averaged 24 points, 11 rebounds and shot 63%.

But beating Mater Dei in a playoff game in Orange County just doesn’t happen too often. And Valley teams defeating Mater Dei happens on rarer occasions. Harvard-Westlake pulled it off in 1996, during the Collins twins’ reign, 64-38, in a tournament game.

“[Mater Dei] didn’t like losing at all,” Coach Greg Hilliard of Harvard-Westlake recalled.

McKnight, with 12 section titles in 17 years, has top players and can coach with the best.

Simi Valley returns everyone in its starting lineup except Berumen next season. The Pioneers will be the No. 1 team in the Valley/Ventura Country region--again.

Somehow, the Pioneers must figure out how to get past Mater Dei if they expect to earn a ring.

Fullove refuses to surrender. He vowed to be in the gym Thursday, lifting weights, shooting jumpers and preparing for a Mater Dei rematch in 2000.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.