SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS' BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS DIVISION I-AA
Wild-card games, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
A--#15 St. John Bosco (Trinity 4) at Long Beach Jordan (Moore 4)B--Lawndale (Pioneer 4) at Servite (Trinity 6)C--Alemany (Mission T6) at Dana Hills (South Coast T4)D--Orange Lutheran (Trinity 5) at Paramount (San Gabriel Valley 5)E--El Segundo (Pioneer T5) at Westlake (Marmonte T3)F--Downey (San Gabriel Valley 4) at Artesia (Suburban 4)
SIMI VALLEY ON YOUTUBE.COM
First round, Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Chaminade (Mission 5) at #1 Dominguez (San Gabriel Valley 1)Winner wild-card A at La Mirada (Suburban 2) Mission Viejo (South Coast 3) at #10 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte 2) #9 San Juan Capistrano Serra (Trinity 3) at Compton Centennial (Pioneer T2) Cerritos (Suburban 3) at #5 Santa Margarita (Trinity 2) Agoura (Marmonte T3) at #11 Loyola (Mission 1) #13 Gahr (San Gabriel Valley 3) at Tesoro (South Coast 2) Verbum Dei (Mission 4) at #4 Compton (Moore 1) Winner wild-card B at #3 Simi Valley (Marmonte 1) Crespi (Mission 3) at #8 Long Beach Wilson (Moore T2) Torrance (Pioneer T2) at #12 Lynwood (San Gabriel Valley 2) Winner wild-card C at #6 Mayfair (Suburban 1) Winner wild-card D at #7 Capistrano Valley (South Coast 1) #16 Long Beach Poly (Moore T2) at North Torrance (Pioneer 1) Winner wild-card E at #14 Harvard-Westlake (Mission 2) Winner wild-card F at #2 Mater Dei (Trinity 1)
Notes: Second round, Feb. 19; quarterfinals, Feb. 22; semifinals, Feb. 26. Championship, Mar. 1 at Honda Center (Anaheim).
Simi Valley's Lorne Jackson from austin knoblauch on Vimeo.
Simi Valley shows no mercy, pours it on against Lancers
It's not how you start but how you finish, and the Simi Valley boys' basketball team knows this all too well after opening Wednesday's showdown against visiting Thousand Oaks sluggishly. The Pioneers, however, closed out the game with a flurry, thoroughly defeating the Lancers, 66-56, to clinch the Marmonte League championship. 
"It didn't matter if we started out the game slow, there was no way we were going to let them come into our house and win this game,'' Simi Valley senior Lorne Jackson said. "We knew if we kept working hard, kept playing our game, we'd get back into it. Once we got rolling, they figured out we were no joke.''
The Lancers opened up a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter behind the steady play of Michael Shelton and Michael Whalen. The Pioneers, ranked No. 8 by The Times, responded. Paul Williams came off the bench and scored seven points over a four-plus minute stretch and Jackson added five points of his own to give Simi Valley a 29-27 lead at halftime.
Thousand Oaks didn't put up much of a fight in the third quarter, or the fourth quarter, for that matter. Jackson and Michael Meza scored at will, finishing with 20 points each as the Pioneers extended the lead to as many as 18 points with just more than five minutes to play. After that, league title talk ran rampant throughout Tom Harmon Gym. "We finished things off with a bang,'' Meza said. "All season our focus has been winning league. To do it here at home, in front of our fans, against Thousand Oaks, the way we did.... It's a great feeling. It's the only way to go out.''
Simi Valley 66, Thousand Oaks 56
Lorne Jackson and Michael Meza each scored 20 points in the home victory for Times No. 8 Simi Valley (24-1, 13-0). Michael Whalen had 15 points for Thousand Oaks (19-6, 12-1).
Boys' basketball: Simi Valley overcomes sluggish start to lead at half
Well, I sure didn't expect to see Simi Valley come out flat at home against Thousand Oaks, but low and behold, the Pioneers did. They've committed numerous turnovers, missed several shots from the perimeter -- the chants of airball have been frequent -- and are trailing, 17-10, at the end of the first eight minutes of play. 
To their credit, the Lancers have been sharp, particularly point guard Michael Shelton, who's been able to break the Pioneers' press with relative ease. His counterpart, Lorne Jackson, didn't score for the first six minutes and finished with three points in the quarter. The senior came alive before halftime though. Jackson converted a layup to give Simi Valley its first lead of the game, 24-23, with 1:59 left in the second quarter. Next time down the floor, he drained a three-pointer. 
Teammate Paul Williams added seven points in five-plus minutes to give the Pioneers a 29-27 at the half.
--Sean Ceglinsky
DAILY NEWS
Simi Valley turns it around to win Marmonte title
By Jahmal Corner, Special to the Daily News
Article Last Updated: 02/06/2008 10:49:06 PM PST 
SIMI VALLEY - Thousand Oaks lost the momentum, and Simi Valley found it.
The Pioneers rebounded from a slow start before imposing their will and wrapping up the Marmonte League championship with a 66-56 home victory over the Lancers on Wednesday night.
Lorne Jackson finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and five steals. But he was far from satisfied with his team's performance.
"We have to start with more intensity," Jackson said. "We weren't playing our game, but we still were up by two at halftime. We just had to come out and play our game."
Simi Valley (24-1, 13-0) came out of halftime with an 18-5 run to take control. It was a stretch in which Jackson seemed to be everywhere at once. He found teammate Mike Meza with a pass for an easy two points, then made a timely 3-pointer. Meza had 20 points for Simi Valley.
Michael Whalen scored 19 points for Thousand Oaks (18-7, 11-2), which got off to a promising start before going cold. Simi Valley fell behind 19-10 in the first quarter, but then got untracked, as the Pioneers loosened up Thousand Oaks' zone defense by hitting several outside shots. 
Junior guard Brad Lewis, who finished with 13 points, got into a rhythm and buried three shots from the perimeter. When Jackson added a 3-pointer, Simi Valley capped a 17-4 run that gave it a 27-23 advantage with 1:30 left in the half.
Simi Valley clinches Marmonte crown
By Natalie Jay Correspondent
Thursday February 7, 2008
With the Marmonte League title on the line, the Thousand Oaks High boys' basketball team came out firing on the road against Simi Valley on Wednesday night before succumbing 66-56 to the Pioneers. The victory gives Simi Valley (24-1, 13-0) the league title outright.
The Lancers opened the game with a quick, aggressive attack that seemed to overwhelm the sluggish Pioneers, giving Thousand Oaks a 17-10 lead after the first quarter. 
Then senior guard Lorne Jackson took over. His team never looked back. A Jackson field goal put Simi Valley ahead for the first time with two minutes remaining in the first half. He followed with a steal on the ensuing Lancers possession, capped off by a 3-pointer to build a 27-23 lead.
Thousand Oaks' Ian Douglass responded with a trey of his own, but a Jackson assist to Mike Meza closed the quarter and the Pioneers never relinquished the lead. 
Through the first half, usual Simi Valley standouts Meza and Jackson had posted nine and eight points, respectively. Both would finish with 20 after a second half punctuated by Jackson's effectiveness in every phase of the game.
"I just knew my team needed me," said Jackson, who also grabbed seven rebounds, distributed four assists and nabbed five steals — all team-highs. "I needed to play better than I did in the first half." Simi Valley coach Christian Aurand, fresh from the customary water cooler bath in celebration of the league title, echoed his player's assessment. "When Lorne is aggressive offensively, that's what we need him to do. He wasn't very aggressive in the first half." 
Once Jackson turned up the intensity, his team followed.
"I picked it up and the team flowed off me," Jackson said. A victory at Royal on Friday night would make this Pioneers squad the first Marmonte League team to go undefeated in league play since 2002. Thousand Oaks, led by Michael Whalen's 15 points, fell to 18-7, 11-2. 
