Boys' basketball: All you need to know about the Marmonte League from Ryan Moore

Entering last week Thousand Oaks held a one game lead over Simi Valley for first place in the Marmonte League, following back to back losses to Simi Valley, on the road and to Calabasas at home, Simi Valley now holds a one game lead in the league race with two games remaining. The back to back league losses marked the first time Thousand Oaks had lost consecutive league games since the 2004 - 2005 season, which also were at Simi Valley and home against Calabasas. Thousand Oaks must travel to Moorpark and face off with Newbury Park at home to end the regular season. If the Lancers win out, they will finish no lower than second in the league and could finish tied for first with a Simi Valley loss or win the league outright if the Pioneers lose out.

Simi Valley held Thousand Oaks to a season low 44 points in their victory last Tuesday and struggled to put away Newbury Park on Thursday but by doing so vaulted themselves into first place. Newbury Park held Jonathan Davis to a season low 8 points but was unable to contain junior, DJ Saul who scored 18. Saul also scored 16 points during the victory over Thousand Oaks, Saul has gone 12 of 22 from the three point line in the Pioneers last 4 games. Simi Valley must travel to Agoura and play Royal at home to end the season. Agoura led Simi Valley by as many as 17 in their previous meeting before the Pioneers pulled out a 2 point victory. Royal obliterated Simi Valley by 22 in their last meeting at Royal.

Calabasas entered the week in 3rd place and remains in 3rd place with one game remaining this week at home against Moorpark. Despite only playing one game thus far perhaps no team has impacted the league race more than Coyotes, they own two 1 point victories over Thousand Oaks and fell to Simi Valley by two points, twice. Calabasas can still claim the league title if they win their remaining three games, Thousand Oaks loses at least one of their final two games, and Simi Valley drops both of their final contests. If none of the top 3 lose a remaining game Calabasas will finish in 3rd place.

Moorpark perhaps helped themselves the most this week by defeating Royal in the two teams' third meeting of the year. (Royal won both previous meetings, once in the Moorpark Tournament championship and once in the first round of league play). Moorpark is a half game ahead of Royal for the 4th and final automatic playoff birth from the league. The Musketeers however might have the toughest stretch in the league to end the season. They must travel to Calabasas, play Thousand Oaks at home, and finish the regular season at home against Westlake. If Moorpark wins their final 3 games they could finish as high as second place and no lower than tied for 3rd. Moorpark has now won 17 games after winning 12 games the previous two seasons combined.

Royal is just outside the bubble of automatic bids from the Marmonte League but regardless of how the league shakes out the Highlanders should be positioned nicely for an at large birth. Royal travels to Newbury Park who is winless in league play so far then travels to Simi Valley for the league finale. If Royal wins both games they will need Moorpark to lose at least one out of their final three games to be an automatic playoff qualifier. Royal would own the tiebreaker over Moorpark, even though the two teams split head to head during the league schedule Royal's wins over Simi Valley would be the determining factor. The Marmonte League uses head to head as the first tie breaker than a point system based on which team beat more teams with a higher league finish.

Westlake must win out to finish 7 - 7 in league and they would still need a lot of help to gain an automatic bid. They can help their cause somewhat if they win out against Calabasas and Moorpark but would need some help in the form of Royal losing at least once and Moorpark losing at least one of the other two remaining games (Thousand Oaks and Calabasas). Those scenarios would give Westlake the fourth place seed as they hold the tie break over Royal by virtue of sweeping the season series.