Oxnard Goes on Defensive to Beat Hueneme

If you’re going to struggle on offense, you’d better be ready to double your efforts on defense.

Oxnard High put that attitude to good use in a 58-46 victory over Hueneme in a Pacific View League boys’ basketball game on Wednesday night at Hueneme.

The Yellowjackets (16-4, 4-0 in league play) scored only one basket and committed 11 turnovers during an 11:17 stretch, but still had a 29-24 lead early in the third quarter.

“We just knew that we had to play harder on defense and shut them down,” center Nicholas Curtis of Oxnard said. “And that sooner or later, the shots would start falling.”

Eventually, they did. Oxnard went on a 7-0 run in a little over a minute to take a 36-24 lead with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter the Yellowjackets hit two free throws and five of six shots in the first three-plus minutes to take a 54-36 advantage with 4:52 left in the game.

“That’s the way we play,” Coach Henry Lobo of Oxnard said. “We have our lulls on offense. But we came out and played a consistent defensive game for four quarters.”

Coach Tom McCollum of Hueneme, whose Vikings lost to Oxnard by one point and five points in league games last season, said his team was guilty of “paralysis by analysis.”

The Vikings, he said, were thinking too much on the court--trying to make that one extra pass at times--instead of reacting.

Of course, Oxnard, ranked No. 4 in the region by The Times, had something to do with that.

The Yellowjackets went on a 8-0 run early in the game to take a 12-7 lead and kept their relentless defensive pressure on Hueneme throughout the game.

The Vikings (11-7, 2-1) had a 10-1 run in the fourth quarter to cut a 18-point deficit to 55-46 with 2:25 left in the game, but didn’t score again.

Oxnard made three of six free throws down the stretch.

Curtis, a 6-foot-6, junior, had 21 points and 15 rebounds for defending champion Oxnard. Ricky Hernandez scored 11 points for the Yellowjackets, despite spending much of the first half on the bench in foul trouble.

Eric Watkins scored 11 points for Hueneme but the Vikings made only 13 of 51 shots and eight of 14 free throws.

Oxnard made only 19 of 49 shots, but the Yellowjackets made 17 of 29 free throws.

The Yellowjackets led, 29-20, at halftime, despite making only one basket in the last 6:10 of the half.