Agoura Brings Down Thousand Oaks, 60-55

If you were one of those naysayers who thought the Agoura High boys’ basketball team’s 10-2 record was as much a product of a weak schedule as a quality team, think again.

If you thought losses to Calabasas and Monroe last week in the Chaminade tournament indicated the Chargers were in for a long season in the tough Marmonte League, forget about it.

Agoura defeated Thousand Oaks, 60-55, in a Marmonte League opener on Wednesday night that showed the Chargers are for real.

“We wanted to send a message to the rest of the league that Agoura is a good basketball team,” said guard Johnny Gray after scoring 14 points. “We wanted to let people know that we weren’t a fluke,that we can win big basketball games.”

The Chargers did that against Thousand Oaks by holding All-Ventura County selection Kyle Kegley to one point in the fourth quarter and by outscoring the Lancers, 33-19, over the final 12 minutes.

Agoura (11-2) played with a playoff-level intensity after Ben Olson’s basket gave Thousand Oaks a 36-27 lead with 4:25 left in the third quarter.

The Chargers, 2-10 in league play last season, closed the quarter with a 13-4 run to tie the score, 40-40, when forward Kevin Cornwell hit a three-point shot with 45 seconds left.

Cornwell, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds, gave Agoura a 44-42 lead with 6:37 left with two baskets, but Thousand Oaks tied the score, 47-47, when Olson threw down a two-handed dunk on a lob from Kegley with 5:17 remaining.

The dunk brought the Lancer fans to their feet, but Agoura scored the next four points on baskets by Gray and Cornwell, and Thousand Oaks never got closer than two points after that.

The Lancers (9-4), the No. 5-ranked team in the region by The Times, cut their deficit to 53-51 on a three-point shot by Dave Anderson, but Adam Allegro’s tip-in pushed Agoura’s lead to 55-51 with 2:13 left.

Olson, who had 12 points, hit two free throws with 1:53 remaining, but Jamie Patton drilled a three-point shot--his only basket of the game--with 38 seconds left to give Agoura a 58-53 lead.

Kegley and Allegro each scored 18 points, but Allegro had six points in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the game.