Newbury Park Gets Its Fill of Notre Dame

This game would have made Greg Goorjian goofy.

In 1977, the guard from Crescenta Valley High was a scoring glutton, gorging himself with 64 points in one game of the Thousand Oaks Holiday Invitational basketball tournament. Goorjian had 159 points in three games to lead his team to the title.

In a first-round game of the same tournament Wednesday night, Notre Dame was pointedly on a starvation diet. The Knights scored only nine in the first half--and were upset, 45-32, by Newbury Park.

Notre Dame (3-3) made only 14 of 47 shots from the field and 2 of 12 free throws. The Knights shot as if the lights were turned out in the gym. Good night, Knights.

“I’m not known for coaching strong defensive teams,” Newbury Park Coach Ken Barone said. “But I’d like to say our defense did the job tonight.”

Newbury Park’s strategy of double-teaming Notre Dame center and leading scorer John Perak worked well. With Brian Davidheiser and Dan Ryan shielding Perak, the Panthers opened up a 16-3 lead with 6:30 remaining in the first half.

Ryan, a 6-3 junior, out-muscled Perak, getting 10 rebounds and 12 points. Perak had 10 points, but had only six rebounds.

Before the game, Notre Dame Coach Matt Vickers said that if Perak was double-teamed, guard Josh Oppenheimer would strike from outside. Oppenheimer, who was one of the main reasons the Knights nearly defeated powerful Simi Valley two weeks ago, made only six of 17 shots.

Notre Dame was without starting forward Alex Horosny, who has a sprained ankle and will miss the entire tournament.

After adding only eight third-quarter points to their halftime total of nine, the Knights closed to within seven points, 35-28, with 3:30 left in the game.

Panther forward Mark Schlegel drove through the lane for an uncontested layup, however, and Newbury Park regained its composure. Guard Glenn Harrick made two straight steals, one of which he drove the length of the floor for a layup, to put the Panthers ahead, 42-28.

The win by Newbury Park (2-4) was the third upset in four first-round games. Ventura and Thousand Oaks took one-point victories Tuesday.

Westlake 69, Agoura 44--As coach of the only underdog team that failed to record an upset in the first round, Agoura’s Bob LaBelle was just plain upset.

“We’ve got internal problems,” LaBelle lamented. “And we’re shooting 33% on the season.”

Agoura (1-7) has had only three practices with its entire roster and a lack of cohesiveness is evident.

“The Christmas break will be spent practicing,” LaBelle said. “It will be a challenge to me and the team to see if we can turn our season around.”

Nine players scored for Westlake (5-2) and Coach Roy Gilmore was able to give his bench plenty of playing time.

“It’s important for team morale to do that,” Gilmore said. “We lacked intensity in the first half but turned it on late in the game.”

Westlake made 29 of 51 field-goal attempts, while Agoura hit only 13 of 32. Forward Paul Keenan made seven of 12 shots and guard Rick Welch hit six of nine.

Westlake out-rebounded Agoura, 27-18.

In winners’ bracket games today, Ventura meets Thousand Oaks at 6:30 p.m. and Westlake plays Newbury Park at 8 p.m. Santa Clara faces Calabasas at 3 p.m. and Agoura plays Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. in consolation bracket contests.

NEWBURY PARK--Schlegel 10; Ryan 12; Davidheiser 3; Jeffers 11; Harrick 7; Theiler 1; Ludlow 1.

NOTRE DAME--Brewster 2; Schmeiderer 4; Perak 10; Oppenheimer 12; Heicke 2; Escala 2.

AGOURA--Rea 13 and 8 rebounds; Looney 14; Williams 3; Dobrowski 2; Duryea 10; Grant 2.

WESTLAKE--Henderson 5 and 5 assists; Keenan 17; Zeiss 8 and 7 rebounds; Welch 14; Smith 12; Rossok 6; Cangelois 2; Lennehan 3; Salmina 2.