Ryan Briggs is on the verge of...

Ryan Briggs is on the verge of becoming the Simi Valley basketball team’s all-time assists leader.

Briggs, a 5-foot-10 senior guard, needs 17 assists to tie Butch Hawking’s record of 438. Hawking, now an assistant at Air Force, played for Simi Valley from 1986 to ’88.

With two Marmonte League games and at least one playoff game to play, Briggs, who is averaging 8.4 assists, seems a cinch to eclipse the mark.

Three weeks ago, he didn’t.

With eight games to play, Briggs was 82 assists shy of the record.

Since then, Briggs has averaged 10.8 assists. He had 16 against Newbury Park, 12 against Royal, 11 against Channel Islands, 10 against Thousand Oaks and Westlake, and six against Camarillo.

“Once he saw he was in sight of the record, he really, really looked to pass the ball,” Coach Dean Bradshaw said.

Hawking played in 65 games, five as a sophomore. Briggs has played in 68, 17 as a sophomore.

Although Briggs has played in more games, many of Hawking’s assists translated into baskets by Don MacLean, who became UCLA’s all-time scoring leader and now is a member of the Washington Bullets.

Briggs not only is the Pioneers’ assist leader (201 in 24 games) this season, he is their leading scorer (11.3 average).

Scoring: Hueneme’s Wendell Nunnery has made 40 of 86 (47%) three-point attempts and is averaging 20.9 points a game. . . . Royal’s Steve Hodge made 40 of his first 80 three-point attempts before going two for 10 from three-point range last week. Hodge is averaging a team-high 13.9 points. . . .

Buena guard Giovani Angulo has made 23 of 24 free throws, including his last 20 over two games. Angulo has made 40 of 46 (87%). . . . Ventura’s Darien Roberts is as streaky as they come. Roberts, averaging a team-high 16.5 points, scored five, 13 and 19 in three games last week. Roberts’ previous season-low was nine points, and that came one game before his season-high of 40 against Thousand Oaks. . . .

Glendale’s David Sofro hit four of five three-point shots as part of a 26-point effort last week against Hoover. . . . Village Christian’s Dave Fennell surpassed the school’s all-time scoring record last week. He has 1,051 points in 68 games. . . .

Senior Chad Reese has scored 45% (569 of 1,269) of Hoover’s points. Win-loss records: Ventura (20-2) has won 12 in a row and has clinched its first Channel League championship since 1983. Thousand Oaks (21-1), which has clinched its third consecutive Marmonte League title, extended its winning streak to 18 games. . . .

Channel Islands is 10-10 after beginning the season with seven consecutive wins. . . . Good thing Hueneme has clinched at least a tie for third in the Channel League. The Vikings lost two of three last week and play league powers Santa Barbara and Ventura this week.

Kilpatrick finished December by winning four of six games. The Mustangs then did not play a game for three weeks. They have lost six of seven since. “That long a layoff for the situation these kids are in is just real tough,” Coach Jeff Fortes said. “You can’t keep that intensity up (without playing any games).”

Before Brian Gibson took over as coach at Village Christian, the Crusaders had lost 14 of their previous 15 meetings with L.A. Baptist. But, before Tuesday night’s game, Gibson was 3-4 against the Knights.

Miscellany: Santa Clara ran its Frontier League winning streak to 74 games last week with victories over Santa Paula and Calabasas, and in the process, its eighth consecutive league title. The Saints’ league streak, which began in 1985, is the fourth longest league winning streak in Southern Section history.

Santa Clara (from 1956-65) also is tied with Hesperia Christian (1978-90) for the second-longest at 82.

Banning holds the Southern Section record at 98 games (1983-91). . . . Oak Park has won as many Tri-Valley League games this season (four) as it has in the previous three seasons. . . . Ventura guards Chinh Tran and Larry Anter each has 49 assists in 22 games. . . .

Canoga Park has blocked 117 shots in 16 games. Demond Callahan is averaging 3.2, Arthur Bradford 2.9. . . .

In two losses to Crescenta Valley, Glendale has shot 19 free throws, compared to 55 for the Falcons. Last week, in Crescenta Valley’s 63-58 victory, the Falcons made 26 of 31 free throws and Glendale made 10 of 13.

St. Genevieve’s Ryan McGinnis had a 13-game string of 10 or more rebounds snapped last week. McGinnis had eight rebounds in the Valiants’ loss to La Salle. . . .

Birmingham opponents have outfouled the Braves, 396-282. The Braves have converted 271 free throws to their opponents’ 147. “When you’re playing good defense, you foul much less because you’re in good position,” Birmingham Coach Al Bennett said.

Wrestling: Highland’s Rich Moakley (160 pounds) dropped his first match of the season Saturday at Victor Valley after going 45-0. Moakley is 48-2.

Statistics through Monday

Regional Basketball

Top 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Lst. Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 North Hollywood East Valley 20-1 2 2 Thousand Oaks Marmonte 21-1 3 3 Ventura Channel 20-2 4 4 Crescenta Valley Pacific 19-3 5 7 Simi Valley Marmonte 19-5 6 6 Notre Dame Mission 18-6 7 5 Hart Foothill 16-6 8 8 Monroe Mid-Valley 17-3 9 9 Cleveland West Valley 12-6 10 10 Santa Clara Frontier 19-5