BOYS’ BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

What do Crespi (22-6), Thousand Oaks and Granada Hills Hillcrest Christian (21-3) have in common?

They’re still alive in the Southern Section playoffs because each has a standout junior point guard.

Allan Ellis of Crespi, Dave Anderson of Thousand Oaks and Alex Martino of Hillcrest Christian have taken on the role of breaking presses and getting teammates involved in the offense with precision passes and expert dribbling.

Ellis is averaging 11.2 points and 3.0 assists entering Thursday night’s Division IV-AA championship game against St. Paul at The Pyramid at Long Beach. He was a little-used reserve last season.

“I’ve worked hard and learned to play the position,” Ellis said.

Anderson, an All-Southern Section defensive back, has been feeding the ball to the Lancers’ shooters, Kyle Kegley and Ben Olson.

Martino is known for hitting clutch three-point shots besides using his dribbling skills to take pressure off teammates. The Eagles face Downey Calvary Chapel tonight in a Division V-AA semifinal at Faith Baptist.

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Andrew Moore of Crespi has become the school’s career scoring leader with 1,248 points, surpassing Joe Carrabino, a 1980 graduate who had 1,220.

It was quite a year for Mission League players. Cody Pearson of Notre Dame and Scott Borchart of Chaminade also became career scoring leaders for their schools.