DRIVE THE LANE—Pioneer guard Austin Hawk takes the ball strong to the basket. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers Grant Keller absorbed the contact and flipped in a shot along the baseline for a three-point play.

The circus shot, part of a 13-point first quarter for the senior, illustrated an explosive offensive performance by the Simi Valley High boys’ basketball team Wednesday night. “I was off-balance,” Keller said. “It was a lucky shot, but luck helps a lot.”

Simi Valley overwhelmed visiting Westminster, 74-36, in the first round of CIF-Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs.

The Pioneers (17-10) advance to play at Alta Loma in the second round tonight at 7.

“We wanted to come out with a good, strong effort,” Simi Valley head coach Christian Aurand said. “We jumped on them early and never looked back.”

Danny Cox, who missed six weeks of the season with a broken right foot, showed how much of a difference-maker he can be with 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

BE LIKE MIKE—Simi Valley High’s Danny Cox, right, puts up a fall-away jumper a la Michael Jordan during Wednesday’s Pioneer playoff victory over Westminster. Cox recently returned from injury. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers “He’s really the glue to our team,” Keller said. “He’s the point guard. He kind of does a lot of things that go unnoticed but . . . it helps a lot. (He) makes a big difference. You can tell.”

Cox, a four-year varsity member, said getting his conditioning back has been critical.

“I look to go hard no matter what, if I’m in the best condition or not,” he said.

Cox’s return to his role as starting point guard has also allowed Keller to return to his more natural shooting guard position and do less ball-handling.

“Grant is a very versatile guy,” Aurand said. “He does everything across the board. At 6-foot-4, he’s long. He can attack the basket. He can pass the ball, and (Wednesday) he shot the ball well, too.”

Simi Valley received 17 points from Keller, 16 from CJ Faulwell and 10 from Joey Brinton. Jonathan Davis collected seven rebounds to go with four points.

Aurand said he wants to see his team cut down on turnovers going forward.

The Pioneers ran out to a 2811 first-quarter lead. Simi Valley made five 3-pointers in the opening quarter as Westminster never seriously threatened the Pioneers.

Westminster (9-18) relied on the sharpshooting of Tarik Rayford and Jonathan Alcaraz, who combined for 16 first-half points but received little help from the rest of the team’s 17-player roster.

Westminster coach Jesse Miramontez liberally substituted with little success.

Simi Valley steadily built its lead in the second quarter. Cox’s 3-pointer made it 41-21. The Pioneers led 43-24 at halftime.

SVHS ramped up its defense in the third quarter and held Westminster to five points in the period. Brinton scored seven of his 10 points in a 9-2 Pioneer run to make it 65-29 going into the fourth.

Simi Valley’s lead grew to 40 points in the final period, with the mercy rule making it a running clock. Aurand emptied his bench, with junior varsity players who were moved up for the playoffs entering the game in the final minutes.

Wednesday’s win is the start of what Keller said he hopes is an extended playoff run.

“We were pretty disappointed in our season,” he said. “We think this is our time. We think we have momentum going. We think we’re playing our best ball.”