Simi Valley Wins but Santa Clara Puts Up a Fight

Well, Simi Valley High fans, so this is what a close basketball game is all about--crucial free throws, daring defense and clutch shooting.

Simi Valley, taking a break from its jaunt through the Marmonte League, was involved in a game decided by less than 10 points for the first time since returning from the Beach Ball Classic in South Carolina three weeks ago.

And the Pioneers were up to the task.

Simi Valley needed four free throws by Shawn DeLaittre in the final 22 seconds to defeat Santa Clara, 65-60, Saturday in the nonleague game at the Saints’ Friedrich Pavilion.

Santa Clara, a Southern Section 2-A Division power, gave the 4-A Pioneers a scare before those clutch free throws and defense sealed the victory.

DeLaittre, who five minutes earlier had missed two free throws, made two with 22 seconds left to give the Pioneers a 63-60 lead. The 6-foot, 5-inch forward then rebounded a missed three-point shot by Bubba Burrage that would have tied the score and hit two more free throws with seven seconds to play.

“Good free-throw shooters can adjust to what they’re doing wrong,” said DeLaittre, who had 18 points.

And good teams.

Pioneer guard Darren Aurand, for instance, made a key steal with 1:11 left in the game, was fouled, and made both ends of the one-and-one opportunity. Aurand picked Santa Clara point guard Art Santana clean with the score in 59-57 in Simi Valley’s favor and the Saints setting up for the tying points.

“I didn’t want to foul him,” Aurand said. “I was kind of worried about the foul, but I had to make something happen.”

It was just his turn to make something happen.

For most of the game it was guard Butch Hawking, who scored 14 points and fed Don MacLean and DeLaittre full with passes. MacLean, a 6-10 senior, scored a game-high 30 points.

“I’m playing more relaxed as an individual, and I think our team’s playing more relaxed,” Hawking said. “I think our team’s playing more relaxed.”

Simi Valley, 16-3 and ranked No. 1 in The Times’ Valley poll, was a bit too relaxed when it came to Santa Clara forward John McGill, who had 23 points and 16 rebounds.

“We knew he was really strong, really powerful,” Simi Valley Coach Bob Hawking said of the 6-4, 195-pound McGill, who scored several times after grabbing offensive rebounds. “He did an awful good job tonight.”

The Pioneers led by as many as 10 points several times in the second half, but McGill’s rebounding and the scoring of Burrage, who had 9 of his 11 points in the second half, brought the Saints (10-8) back.

A small adjustment by DeLaittre and a big steal by Aurand, however, finished Santa Clara.

“We expected a tough ballgame,” Simi Valley Coach Bob Hawking said. “Santa Clara obviously hasn’t won eight CIF titles without having good teams.”