Thousand Oaks Saves Its Best for Last and Wins

Six of nine from the field.

Four of five from three-point range.

Six of six from the free-throw line.

Combine those statistics with only two turnovers and you have the best fourth quarter of the season for Thousand Oaks High and a 61-56 victory over West Covina in a Southern Section Division I-A boys’ basketball playoff game Wednesday night.

Thousand Oaks (17-9), which plays Anaheim Loara in a second-round game on Friday at a site to be determined today, squandered late fourth-quarter leads in losses to Simi Valley and Westlake this season. But the Lancers made sure it didn’t happen against West Covina by hitting all six of their free throws in the final 14 seconds.

West Covina (13-10), which tied for fourth place in the Sierra League, took a 54-53 lead with 1:52 left on two free throws by Travis Parker. But Thousand Oaks scored the next eight points to take a 61-54 lead with 3.6 seconds left.

Tim Chevalier of Thousand Oaks, who had 18 points, scored on a layup off an assist from Dave Anderson to give the Lancers a 55-54 lead with 1:25 left. Kyle Kegley, who had 16 points, made two free throws with 14 seconds to go to push the lead to 57-54.

Terrence Martin of West Covina, who had 23 points, was fouled on the following possession, but the 6-foot-5 shooting guard missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity and Kahil Fennell of Thousand Oaks was fouled after getting the rebound.

Fennell entered the game with a free-throw percentage of 48.6%, but the 6-4 senior forward sank two free throws with six seconds left and Chevalier added two at 3.6 to go after a steal.

“I was a little nervous,” Coach Rich Endres of Thousand Oaks said. “[Fennell’s] been shooting the ball well from outside lately so he hasn’t been going to the basket much and getting to the foul line.”

Fennell had five points and seven rebounds for the Lancers, but Thousand Oaks might not be playing Friday were it not for Kasey Myers, a sophomore guard who scored nine points on three three-point baskets.

Kegley, a junior guard, made his fourth three-pointer of the game to give the Lancers a 47-44 lead with 4:48 left and Myers followed with his second to extend the lead to 50-44 with 3:55 left.

Martin’s three-pointer and two free throws by Valente Casas cut the lead to 50-49, but Myers hit another three-pointer to give the Lancers a 53-49 advantage with 2:27 left.

“It takes a lot of guts to step up and hit those threes like that,” Endres said. “You never know how a sophomore is going respond in that situation, but he did well.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PLAYOFF SCORES

SOUTHERN SECTION

Wednesday

First Round

Division I-AA

Highland 60, San Gabriel 57

Crescenta Valley 79, Santa Maria 70

Glendora 77, Camarillo 55

Channel Islands 78, Glendale 57

*

Division I-A

Thousand Oaks 61, West Covina 56

Moreno Valley 71, Lancaster 62

Quartz Hill 54, Hart 53

St. John Bosco 55, Hueneme 53

Nogales 63, Ventura 56

Burbank 58, Mira Costa 51

Royal 67, Damien 60

Saugus 75, Buena 72

*

Division III-AA

Pomona 53, St. Francis 51

La Canada 58, Nordhoff 52 (OT)

Harvard-Westlake 76, Ganesha 70

Notre Dame 62, Workman 58

Compton Centennial 80, Santa Paula 33

Chaminade 60, South Pasadena 36

* BOX SCORES,

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* ALLEGED PUNCHING INCIDENT COULD BE COSTLY FOR FULLOVE, PAGE 12