Boys basketball: Westlake, Thousand Oaks win to force three-way tie for first in Marmonte

Just when it seemed like the Marmonte League boys basketball race couldn’t get any tighter, rivalry right produced a three-way knot atop the standings.

Westlake High turned a boost from its bench into a game-winning, 12-0 third-quarter run to hand league-leading Oaks Christian its first loss in league play, 63-43, Friday night at the Lions’ Younan Court.

“Coming out of the half, we talked about punching first and that was key,” said Westlake head coach Kyle Kegley. “We punched all the way through that third quarter. The punch kept going, all the way through.”

Austin Maziasz finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, Dante Deshautelle contributed 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, Kayden Elsokary had 10 points and four assists, and Danny Bao grabbed 10 rebounds for Westlake (18-5), The Star’s No. 1-ranked team.

Stevie Prudholme scored 13 points, Troy McGovern had 10 points and Stevie Amar had six points, four rebounds and two blocks for Oaks Christian (14-9), which had won six straight over the past month, including resume-boosting wins over Oxnard and Thousand Oaks.

“I just didn’t think we had very good rhythm in the second half,” Oaks Christian coach Mark Amaral said. “A lot of it had to do with them, so credit to those guys. I didn’t think the rhythm of our offense was very good.”

The result, combined with Thousand Oaks’ 77-52 home win over rival Newbury Park, left the Warriors, Lions and Lancers in a three-way tie atop the league standings at 4-1 at the midpoint of the league race.

“There’s not a lot of separation between the three of us,” Amaral said. “I’m honored to be a part of that conversation. We were 4-24 two years ago.”

Elias Chin finished 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Trent MacLean had 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Noah Cotton scored 12 points and Jackson Messervy added seven points and five rebounds for Thousand Oaks (18-5, 4-1) in its win over Newbury Park. Alex Depatie had 20 points and three assists, Blake Jones had 11 points and five rebounds, and Trey Lucas hit two 3-pointers and finished with eight points for the Panthers (12-11, 0-5).

In the other Marmonte game on Friday night, Tidiane Sy finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, Grayson Coleman had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists and Odijie Okojie added 10 points and seven rebounds to lead Calabasas (15-7, 2-3) to a 59-55 victory over Agoura. Ethan Klopp had 18 points and nine rebounds, DJ Jacob had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Mathis Simonet scored 11 points for the Chargers (8-14, 1-4).

The first half at Younan Court ebbed and flowed. Both head coaches stopped opposing runs with timeouts twice.

“In this league, which is such a grind … there’s going to be runs,” Kegley said. “You have to make sure it’s a 4-0, 5-0, 6-0 run, not a 12-0 run. I think that’s where the timeouts from both coaches were coming from.”

Oaks Christian used an early 9-0 run, spurred by Prudholme and McGovern, to build its largest lead, 11-6, in the first quarter.

With a few of its starters in early foul trouble, Westlake recovered with some key contributions off the bench. Sophomore Daniel Malouf and senior Braylon Butout splashed 3-pointers to help pull the Warriors even, 28-28, in the final minute of the half.

Maziasz buried a buzzer-beating wing 3 in transition to send Westlake into the locker room at halftime with a 31-28 edge.

It was tied at 34-34 and 36-36 early in the second half before Westlake dropped the hammer with 12 straight points.

The run was sparked by sophomore Axel Ostergard off the bench. The 6-foot-3 forward dropped a corner 3, worked inside for a putback finish and hustled back for a blocked shot.

“I thought our bench did great,” Kegley said. “Daniel Malouf, Axel Ostergard and Braylon Butout, those three were huge.”

Amaral called a timeout at 41-36, but the momentum continued until the Warriors had built a 49-37 lead after three quarters.

Kegley was asked how Westlake responded to last week’s loss at Thousand Oaks with a pair of league wins.

“Honestly, you’ve got no time, especially (facing) two weeks of Monday-Wednesday-Friday (games),” Kegley said. “You’ve got no time. You got to take everyone seriously. You’ve got to respect everyone. Every game is different. Every team is different. Every matchup is different.

“So the next focus is on the next opponent, that’s what you need to do in this league to survive.”

The second half of league play arrives next week. Westlake travels to Agoura on Monday, hosts Calabasas on Wednesday and hosts a showdown with Thousand Oaks on Friday.

Oaks Christian visits Newbury Park on Monday, hosts Thousand Oaks on Wednesday and hosts Agoura on Friday.

Oaks Christian doesn’t visit Westlake until Feb. 1, the final day of the regular season.

Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Westlake, TO wins tighten Marmonte League boys basketball race