Polen, Newbury Park Finish as Champions

THOUSAND OAKS — Brian Polen scored 24 points and Newbury Park High weathered a Thousand Oaks rally to post an 83-71 victory Friday night to win the championship of the Thousand Oaks tournament for the first time since 1980.

The Panthers (3-1) led by as many as 12 points in the first half. Polen, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, scored 14 points.

Thousand Oaks (6-2), thanks to the accurate three-point shooting of sophomore guard Kyle Kegley, closed the deficit to 59-58 at the end of the third quarter.

Kegley, who scored 17 points to lead the Lancers, made five three-point shots--four in the third quarter. Danny Lampert gave Thousand Oaks its first lead, 48-47, with three minutes to play in the third.

Kegley and Newbury Park’s Jesse Roche traded three-point baskets before Brian Bobik’s two free throws put the Panthers ahead to stay, 59-58, in the final seconds of the third quarter.

Newbury Park took command with 7-0 run to begin the fourth quarter.

“It was a game of spurts,” Newbury Park Coach Steve Johnson said. “Fortunately, we had the last one.”

Polen said the motivation of playing a Marmonte League rival fueled the defending league-champion Panthers.

“We played with a lot of flame,” Polen said. “We wanted to beat them. We didn’t let them come back on us. They’re a good-shooting team.”

Bobik had 15 points. Thousand Oaks’ Tim Chevalier scored 17 points.

In other Thousand Oaks tournament games:

Crespi 63, Harvard-Westlake 50--The Celts took third place as Andrew Moore and Blake Tibbetts each scored 16 points. It was Crespi’s first victory over Harvard-Westlake in six meetings dating back to 1995.

The Celts (3-1) were playing without three starters. Pat Cassela and Michael Luderer have sprained ankles, and 6-8 center Gregg Guenther has a stress fracture in his right ankle.

Harvard-Westlake (3-2) led, 32-20, with two minutes remaining in the first half.

Moore scored 14 points in the second half, and grabbed seven rebounds. Marcin Jagoda had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Crespi.

Eric Geffner had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Harvard-Westlake.

Highland 48, Oak Park 45--James Cheung of Oak Park missed a three-point shot with seven seconds left and a half-court shot with less than one second left as Highland held on for fifth place.

Humberto Zamora had 12 points and Gerrome Clipper and Mike Kennedy each had 10 for Highland.

Oxnard 67, Calabasas 52--Jason Parker came off the bench and scored 13 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter for Oxnard in the seventh-place game.

Oxnard (5-3) also got 27 points from Gary Eberhardt, who made nine of 15 field-goal attempts and nine of 11 free throws.

Spencer Hariton had 21 points for Calabasas (3-4).

In other games Friday:

Palisades 55, Cleveland 50--Kent Dennis of Cleveland scored 19 points, but only three in the fourth quarter when the Cavaliers were limited to seven in a semifinal of the Beverly Hills tournament.

Grant 68, University 65--Gilbert Arenas scored 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, including six of seven free throws in the fourth quarter, and the Lancers came from behind for a nonleague victory. Daniel Tarr added 20 points for Grant (4-1).

The Lancers trailed almost the entire way until Arenas put them ahead for good, 64-63, with a layup and a free throw with 50 seconds left in the game. Hassan Tristter had 24 points for University (0-1).

Ventura 62, Bishop Amat 51--Jeff Staniland scored 26 points and made all 10 of his free throws in the fourth quarter as the Cougars (3-1) won a ninth-place semifinal in the Beverly Hills tournament.

St. Francis 45, La Salle 37--Shaun Scranton had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Mike Jenkins had 13 points for the Golden Knights (3-0) in a Pasadena Poly tournament semifinal.