HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK

The Simi Valley mystique got the better of the Thousand Oaks boys’ team in the final minutes Wednesday night in a Marmonte League game won by Simi Valley, 80-76.

So says guard Tim Chevalier of Thousand Oaks, which led, 73-67, with 4:45 left but made only one of eight shots and committed four turnovers after that.

“It’s kind of that mystique,” Chevalier said. “There’s that Simi Valley mystique because of the games they’ve won the last few years. . . . It was a heck of a game, but it would have been nice to beat them.”

Thousand Oaks (12-8, 4-3) lost to Simi Valley, 73-71, in a league opener on Jan. 5 when guard Branduinn Fullove hit a jump shot as time expired.

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The 6-foot-5 Fullove is averaging 24.8 points a game after scoring 30 against Thousand Oaks, but a more impressive is his 63.9 shooting percentage.

He has made 195 of 305 shots after a 12-for-17 effort against Thousand Oaks.

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Simi Valley (19-2, 7-0) has won five games without point guard Shaun Michel, but Michel’s importance to the Pioneers was clearly evident against Thousand Oaks.

Simi Valley trailed, 26-14, after the first quarter when Michel didn’t play. But the Pioneers cut their deficit to 43-38 at halftime with Michel in the lineup.

Michel, a 6-2 junior, is averaging 6.7 points and 8.9 assists after a nine-point and nine-assist effort against Thousand Oaks.

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Brett Michel, Shaun’s older brother, didn’t play against Thousand Oaks for unspecified reasons, but the four-year starter is expected back for a game against visiting Agoura tonight.

“He’ll be back with us [Thursday],” Coach Christian Aurand said Wednesday.

A victory tonight would give Simi Valley its fourth consecutive 20-win season.

In the last four seasons the Pioneers are 95-15.

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Oxnard (17-4, 4-0) opens the second half of Pacific View League boys’ play at Channel Islands tonight. Don’t, however, expect a repeat of the Yellowjackets’ 67-32 blowout in a league opener on Jan. 7.

Channel Islands (10-10, 1-3) isn’t apt to make only 13 of 68 shots (19%), as it did in the first game.

And, after a players-only meeting following a 53-48 loss to Rio Mesa, the Raiders defeated Hueneme 74-52 last Friday to snap a five-game losing streak.

“They kind of aired things out,” Coach Tim Murray said. “I had noticed a couple of times in the Rio Mesa game where [the players] looked kind of dazed out there. . . . So I got the players together and encouraged them to talk with each other.”