BOYS' BASKETBALL: CALABASAS 56, OAKS CHRISTIAN 42 CALABASAS KEEPS PACE, GETS WIN FOSTER NETS 27 POINTS, LIFTS COYOTES PAST O.C.Byline: SEAN n. 1. A seine. See Seine. CEGLINSKY Special to the Daily News Calabasas coach Jim Nielsen paced up and down the sideline in his pinstriped pin·stripe also pin stripe n. 1. A very thin stripe, especially on a fabric. 2. a. A fabric with very thin stripes, often used for suits. b. A suit made of such fabric. Often used in the plural. collared shirt and black dress slacks for a majority of Wednesday's first-round game of the Chaminade Christmas Classic in West Hills, constantly shouting out instructions to his players. Rarely did he take a break to sit on the bench. It's not his makeup. Even with the seconds winding down on a 56-42 victory over Oaks Christian of Westlake Village, Nielsen was up in arms armed for war; in a state of hostility. See also: Arms , making sure his game plan still was being executed. ``I love coaching,'' said Nielsen, who was an assistant under Paul Westphal Not to be confused with Paul Westhead. Paul Westphal (born November 30 1950 in Torrance, California) is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA. A native of California, Westphal has had a storied career in the NBA, both as a player and as a head coach. at Pepperdine for the past six years before taking over the head- coaching position at Calabasas this summer after Russell White left for Crespi of Encino. ``I'm not going to mislead mis·lead tr.v. mis·led , mis·lead·ing, mis·leads 1. To lead in the wrong direction. 2. To lead into error of thought or action, especially by intentionally deceiving. See Synonyms at deceive. you, there's some big differences between the college and high school levels. But coaching is coaching, and everyone at Calabasas, from the players, to the parents, to the teachers, to the administrators, has been great. I couldn't be happier.'' Nielsen must have been pleased with the fact the Coyotes (5-6) jumped out to a 24-16 advantage at halftime, in large part because of Shane Foster, who scored 11points in the first eight minutes. Oaks Christian (6-5) responded in the second half. Isaiah Kempf scored five consecutive points as the Lions slowly chipped away at the lead before using a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 31-30 with 22seconds remaining in the third quarter. ``I thought about taking a timeout to stop their momentum, but decided to see how my kids would respond to the adversity,'' Nielsen said. The Coyotes, Foster in particular, proved up to the challenge. With 4.3 seconds left in the third, the senior guard took an inbounds in·bounds adj. 1. Basketball Involving putting the ball into play by passing it from out of bounds to a teammate on the court. 2. Sports Within the designated boundaries. pass from Mark Fields
The Lions had no answer for Foster in the fourth quarter. He scored nine of his team's first 11points as Calabasas opened up a 44-35 lead with 4:39 left and finished with 27 points. ``Coach White was great and we loved playing for him, but, having coach Nielsen around is a good opportunity for all of us because he knows so much about the game,'' Foster said. ``He's the smartest basketball guy I've ever met in my life.'' ``He notices every little thing about the game. He understands we're still kids and are learning. He's helped us out a lot already. He's a great teacher.'' Nielsen is not new to the high school game. Before his days at Pepperdine, he coached Redondo Union and compiled a 193-68 (.739) record over a nine-year tenure and built the Sea Hawks Sea´ hawk` 1. (Zool.) A jager gull. into one of the better programs in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . ``It's nice to be back,'' Nielsen said. ``Some people might think Calabasas is lucky to have me here, but I'm just glad they're keeping me around. This is a good fit for me.'' sean.ceglinsky@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1) Former Pepperdine assistant coach Jim Nielsen, right, has led Calabasas to a 5-6 record so far this season. (2) Calabasas' Shane Foster drives to the basket against Oaks Christian's Chris Owusu on Wednesday. Michael Owen
Box: (1) LOCAL HEROES |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion