The town of Simi Valley doesn't host many travel club events but the Simi Valley Basketball Academy is out to change that. The 13U SVBA Cagers have been entering lots of tournaments and have done well. Now SVBA wants to expand after winning their own eight-team 13U tournament by beating BPA 53-41.

They opened the tournament with a convincing 58-16 victory over the Santa Clarita Scorpions. They followed that with easy wins over the Norco Tar Heels 48-20 and the BPA Panthers 59-19. Hoop Masters provided more of a challenge but lost to the Cagers 61-41 to set up the championship game.

Simi Valley finished the tournament 5–0 after beating BPA 53-41 in a rematch that was much closer than their earlier tourney match up. Simi Valley is now 29-6 in the summer and has won four of the last five championship games in various tournaments.

Simi Valley Cagers: Alex Tiffen 17 (10 rebounds, 4 assists), Daniel Cox 17 (8 rebounds, 4 assists), Grant Keller 10 (10 rebounds, 5 assists), James Whalen 7 (7 rebounds), Cory Olivas 2 (6 rebounds). Taylor Hange, CJ Faulwell and Mark Friedman also contributed to the championship. Starter Nicholas Kahui-Bruen was visiting family in Hawaii and missed the tournament.

BPA: Joe Fiddmont 13, Bryce Jones 13, Ian Gilmer 11.

SVBA has been training players in grades 6-8 since June of 2004. Brandon Simon and Lorne Jackson are Simi Valley High School sophomores who came through the academy a year ago. But playing in the Simi Valley recreation league and the Ventura County Youth Basketball Conference wasn't challenging enough, according to president Tim Bruen.

"We're that next level," said Bruen who has taken the 13U team to Las Vegas to play recently. Bruen said the academy features 50 players and nine of them participated in the elite Snow Valley camp at Westmont College. Next up are the Longhorn Tournament at Cleveland High September 9th and the Swoosh Tournament at the Anaheim Sports Complex later in September.

The SVBA is looking to expand and is seeking players for the sixth-and seventh-grade teams for the fall and winter travel ball season. The Cagers practice Tuesdays & Thursdays 6:45 - 9:00 @ the Boys and Girls Club of Simi Valley. The academy has incorporated the boys' basketball program from the Simi Valley Boys and Girls Club where academy vice president Earle Okamoto is the program director.

Interested players/parents can get more information from Tim Bruen at (805) 584-8681 or Earle Okamoto at (805) 527-4437 and at the SVBA website:

www.svbabball.com