BOYS' BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: SAUGUS PLAYERS KEEPS LOSSES IN PERSPECTIVE.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer

Saugus boys' basketball guard Shant Bicacki is a realist when it comes to winning and losing. He knows his teammates are, too.

Which is why Saugus won't panic after losing two of their past three games, all during the Santa Barbara tournament.

The losses came against San Marcos and Oxnard, and Bicacki is convinced that Saugus (11-3) could have won both games with a few breaks.

``And the thing is, sometimes it's just the other team's night,'' Bicacki said. ``Sometimes you can play great defense and be exactly where you're supposed to be and the guy still hits the shot.''

A good example is the 58-50 loss to San Marcos. San Marcos missed just three shots the entire second half and it had little to do with poor defense.

``They just couldn't miss,'' Bicacki said. ``That's just the bottom line.''

That's one of the reason there was no finger pointing after the losses.

``We have a great group of guys, so you're not going to see that sort of stuff no matter what happens,'' Bicacki said. ``And the thing is, we've only lost three games. That's not bad at all. Actually it's pretty darn good. We're happy, and now we're looking forward to the next phase of our season.''

Saugus plays host to Ventura at 7 tonight, then opens Foothill League play at 7 p.m. Friday at Burbank.

--Uncharted territory: Hart (5-6), the three-time defending Foothill League champion, is not used to being under .500 at this point in the season. The team has struggled to find consistency and defensive focus and it shows in its record.

``We aren't used to losing, so it's been a tough thing to deal with,'' forward Ryan Russell said. ``For me, being a senior and a returning player and leader, it's been really frustrating because I feel like it's my fault that we've lost some of the games we have.''

Russell is most disturbed with Hart's lack of defensive intensity, although the team seemed to address the problem in a 68-45 victory over Push Ridge Christian Academy (Tucson, Ariz.) to finish the Hart tournament Thursday.

``We showed some signs of doing the things we have to do better,'' Russell said. ``A lot of it has been lack of effort, especially on the defensive end. It seems like everybody wants to score but there are other parts of the game that you have to focus on to be successful.''

Hart should benefit from extra practice time this week in preparation for its Foothill League opener at home Friday against Canyon.

``It's great playing in tournaments, but when you're playing four or five games in four days you don't get a chance to practice much and that's tough,'' Russell said. ``Even if you want to make a change or alter something, you have to wait until you have adequate practice time so you can make the change. Now that we're getting on a (league schedule) this week we can really get some quality practice time in.''

--Surging: Valencia reached the final of the highly regarded Chaminade tournament last week, falling to Calabasas 65-55 in the championship game.

Now comes an intriguing game against undefeated La Canada (14-0) at home at 7 p.m. Wednesday before opening Foothill League play at 7 p.m. Friday against Burroughs of Burbank.

Vincent Bonsignore, [phone]

vincent.bonsignore(at)dailynews.com