Malibu Boys Basketball Finishes Tournament on High Note

Malibu High’s boys varsity basketball team finished an otherwise disappointing Clash on the Coast Tournament at Pacifica High School with a win over Sun Valley High School 79-61 this weekend.

The Sharks opened the tournament with a tough loss against Santa Paula High 38-35.

Senior forward, Will Rosenthal, and freshman guard, Frankie McGovern each dropped in 9 points. Junior guard, Anthony Kodomichalos, who played the entire game, tried hard to keep the Sharks in the game with 7 points, 6 rebounds, 6 steals, 5 assists and took two charges.

The Sharks had an opportunity to tie up the game in the last few seconds but fell short before Santa Paula iced the game with free throws.

The next game was against eventual tournament winners, Sierra Canyon High School, who blew out the Sharks. Sierra Canyon pressed and played suffocating defense against Malibu all game, forcing numerous turnovers.

There were only a few highlights across the game with Rosenthal, Kodomichalos and senior guard, Andrew Yazdani, all taking charges. Senior forward, Nick Carlson, continued to fight and showed true grit the entire game. He finished with 7 points.

Malibu’s final pool game was against Oxnard High. Oxnard jumped out to an early lead and continued to be build on its lead over the entire game. Center, junior Justin Homes, kept the Sharks competitive over the first half, finishing the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Rosenthal continued his consistent play, with 8 points and 5 rebounds, while junior guard, Jonathan (“Boogie”) Baldwin chipped in with 4 assists.

The pool games left the Sharks matched up with Sun Valley in the playoff round. In the early rounds, Malibu found it difficult to get high quality shots, however in this game, the Sharks came out shooting. While not all the shots went in, Malibu also kept up the defensive pressure and took a lead into the second quarter, 19-12. Malibu’s intensity started to slip a little in the second quarter, as the Sharks’ mainline guards Kodomichalos and Yazdani had to spend time on the bench in foul trouble. A late Malibu burst allowed the Sharks to go into the halftime break up 36-31.

The third quarter saw the Sharks’ intensity return pushing Sun Valley to the limit. Boogie Baldwin showed skill at the line, going 6-6 at the free throw line during the quarter, while Holmes continued to amass points with Malibu heading into the fourth quarter up 63-50.

Hoping to rest his starters, Coach Tenorio went to his bench. Malibu was up by 20 points with Holmes scoring 26 points and collecting 13 rebounds; Rosenthal with 20 points, 7 rebounds and a charge; Boogie Baldwin with 9 points (all at the free throw line); and Kodomichalos with 3 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 blocks. The bench came in and was able to maintain the Malibu lead. Vinnie van Patten continued to be aggressive, finishing with 5 points in addition to Luke Humphreys and Alex Eddy getting on the board. Ultimately, Malibu finished the game up 79-61.

Malibu comes home on Monday to play Crossroads at Malibu High School at 7 p.m.