BOYS' BASKETBALL DIVISION I-AA: THOUSAND OAKS HAS PLENTY OF POP IT OUTSHOOTS CAMARILLO IN SECOND-ROUND WIN T.O. 70, CAMARILLO 50.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer

CAMARILLO - You know you're a pretty good team offensively when you score 70 points but talk afterward about never finding an offensive rhythm.

That was the feeling after Thousand Oaks took apart Camarillo 70-50 Tuesday in a second-round Southern Section Division I-AA playoff game at Camarillo.

The Lancers, one of the top scoring teams in the region, never got untracked yet pounded the Scorpions (15-14) on their way to Friday's quarterfinals.

The problem was twofold. Thousand Oaks (22-5) simply wasn't as sharp as usual, and it didn't help that a pair of Mojave-area referees called an unusually close game, resulting in 45 total fouls and a complete lack of flow.

In the officials defense, the calls went both ways. But that did nothing for the Lancers comfort zone on offense. They're used to running away from opponents with a high-powered transition game that feeds off steals and defensive boards.

But it's hard to do that when whistles keep blowing.

``We were playing good defense and getting some steals, but they were calling fouls on every single play,'' Lancers' forward Kyle Kegley said. ``It's frustrating because it slows the game down. We wanted a fast-pace, fastbreak game but you can't do that when they call a foul every time.''

Lancers coach Rich Endres agreed.

``The officiating wasn't what we are used to. They called a very tight game, I thought they called it both ways, but it was just very tight and we're used to playing a little tougher. So that did affect us. We didn't have anyone foul out but we had to change things a little bit.''

Thousand Oaks overcame the sluggish offense with a terrific defensive effort. It also helped that Camarillo missed a number of easy shots.

``That's what we key on every game, defense,'' Kegley said. ``We want to run teams, and we knew they wanted to run a slow paced game. We felt if we got up in their faces we could get a fastbreak game going on.''

Kegley had 26 points. Ben Olson added 16 and Kevin Rex had 11.

Ian Caldwell had 18 for Camarillo and Jared Jungworth had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Thousand Oaks, usually a potent outside shooting team, had just one 3- pointer. But it didn't matter considering the way the Lancers shut down the Scorpions, who didn't help matters by misfiring on shots they easily could have converted, resulting in their own version of flow trouble.

``In order to have rhythm you have to make shots,'' Camarillo coach Mike Prewitt said. ``Whether it was a free throw or something in the paint or something in the wing we never did get a rhythm.''

Thousand Oaks was never threatened after taking a 16-7 lead after the first quarter. Despite the Lancers' shaky offense, Camarillo couldn't cut into the lead. The Scorpions' dismal shooting never gave them a chance.

``We had nice shots, they just didn't fall,'' Prewitt said.

With Camarillo posing little threat, Thousand Oaks did its best to survive the closely called game.