High School Basketball : Thomas Lifts Rio Mesa to 88-79 Victory

Eric Thomas of Rio Mesa High shook off the effects of a season-long battle with injuries and sickness Wednesday night in a near-perfect performance against Ventura.

Thomas, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, scored 32 points on 11-of-13 shooting as Rio Mesa defeated Ventura, 88-79, at Rio Mesa to remain unbeaten in the Channel League. Thomas added 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocked shots. He scored 10 points in the first quarter and 6 in the second as Rio Mesa took a 43-28 lead at halftime.

Jeff Garner added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Rio Mesa (18-3, 11-0 in league play). Steve Killgore and Lester Smith each scored 12 points for the Spartans.

In other boys’ games:

Thousand Oaks 69, Newbury Park 52--Senior guard Anthony Gonzales scored 11 points in the fourth quarter for the Lancers in a Marmonte League game at Thousand Oaks.

Trailing, 23-21, at halftime, Thousand Oaks (9-11, 5-5) scored 24 points in each of the last 2 quarters to bury the Panthers (12-8, 3-6).

Lancer guard Darren McMaster had 7 assists and 5 rebounds, forward Mike Sandlin had 16 points and 8 rebounds and center John Bushart added 12 points and 8 rebounds. Gonzales finished with 17 points.

Thousand Oaks outrebounded Newbury Park, 37-20, and the Lancers made 27 of 53 field-goal attempts.

Newbury Park’s Wayne Cook scored a game-high 20 points but made only 8 of 23 field-goal attempts. The Panthers made 21 of 57 shots.

Camarillo 92, Channel Islands 63--Sophomore guard David Harbour scored 34 points on 12-of-15 shooting, including 3 from 3-point range, to lead Camarillo in the Marmonte League game.

Senior forward Jason Hunt had 12 points and 7 rebounds for Camarillo (15-5, 7-2) and senior forward Frank Dews added 12 points.

Jerry Williams had a team-high 14 points for Channel Islands.

Bishop Diego 58, Moorpark 48--Leading, 16-15, at the end of the first quarter, Moorpark made only 6 of 21 shots in the next 2 periods and trailed, 49-35, entering the final quarter of the Tri-Valley League game at Moorpark.

Keith Orford had 11 points and 13 rebounds for Moorpark (6-11, 2-5).

GIRLS

North Hollywood 66, Sylmar 24--In a City Section makeup game, Claudia Rocha scored a game-high 23 points and North Hollywood took a 16-2 lead in the first quarter in the Mid-Valley League game at North Hollywood.

Hart 76, Burbank 33--Burbank limited Sara Wilson to 10 points but was unable to contain 6-1 senior Nikki Brodowy, who had a game-high 21 points and 14 rebounds.

With 5:31 left in the third quarter, Hart went on a 33-1 spurt behind 12 points from Brodowy.

Thousand Oaks 74, Newbury Park 56--Shani Smyth scored 10 of her team-high 26 points in the second quarter for Thousand Oaks in the Marmonte League game at Newbury Park.

Amy Chandler of Thousand Oaks, also had a productive second quarter, scoring 8 of her 16 points in the period. Marlo Cormier of Newbury Park had a game-high 30 points.

Michelle Palmisano added 19 points for Thousand Oaks (19-4, 7-2), which was coming off a 57-38 loss to Channel Islands on Monday night.