Nothing Fluky for Panthers

SIMI VALLEY —  A thing of beauty it wasn’t.

But to Newbury Park High boys’ basketball Coach Steve Johnson, the 51-44 victory over Simi Valley in a Marmonte League game on Friday night was the biggest win of his four-year career at the school.

Newbury Park, the No. 4-ranked team in the region, made only 33.9% (21 of 62) of its shots and scored only six points in the third quarter.

But the Panthers forced Simi Valley to commit 21 turnovers and held the Pioneers to single-digit scoring in each of the last three quarters.

Newbury Park (21-4, 12-0 in league play) has won 11 games in a row, 14 in 15, and clinched a share of the league title with two games left in the regular season.

“We wanted to prove that the first time wasn’t a fluke,” Johnson said of Newbury Park’s 73-71 come-from-behind victory over Simi Valley last month. “A lot of people thought we got lucky when we beat them, but we wanted to prove that it wasn’t a fluke.”

No one seem more determined to do that than 6-foot-6 senior Daniel Bobik, who had 28 points, 12 rebounds and eight steals for the Panthers.

The Brigham Young-bound Bobik made one big play after another for Newbury Park, which played much of the game without foul-plagued starters Robert Congelliere and Brian Bobik, Daniel’s brother.

“It’s huge, it’s a huge win,” Bobik shouted as he was congratulated by Newbury Park supporters. “Because with this win, there’s a good chance that we’ll move into the top four teams in the [Southern Section Division II-A poll].

“To beat a team that was ranked among the top teams in the state at the start of the season twice is just incredible.”

Newbury Park was clinging to a 37-35 lead entering the fourth quarter after making only three of 11 shots in the third quarter, but Bobik quickly gave the Panthers some breathing room.

He scored on a two-handed dunk after a steal to give Newbury Park a 39-35 lead with 7:43 left and then followed in Nick Czernek’s miss to give the Panthers a 41-35 advantage with 6:51 remaining.

“That dunk was really big,” Simi Valley point guard Shaun Michel said. “That seemed to give them a lot of momentum. They seemed to gain from that.”

Simi Valley (21-4, 10-2) narrowed its deficit to 43-40 with 4:03 left, but Congelliere scored over 6-9 Rafael Berumen with 3:41 left to give Newbury Park a 45-40 lead and Daniel Bobik’s three-pointer 30 seconds later gave the Panthers a 48-40 advantage.

Berumen, The Times’ Ventura County player of the year last season, had 22 points for No. 2-ranked Simi Valley, 13 in the first quarter when he hit six of eight shots to help the Pioneers to a 20-13 lead.

“I just think they outplayed us,” Simi Valley Coach Dean Bradshaw said. “They defended us well and when they started to hit some of their shots, they took us out of our transition game.”

Branduinn Fullove scored 11 points for Simi Valley.