Thousand Oaks High boys basketball coach Logan Baltau already knew his star shooting guard could score with the best in Ventura County. What the team needed heading into the 2025-26 season was a leader.
Dylan McCord gave the Lancers both.
The southpaw senior set Thousand Oaks records for 3-pointers in a season (113) and 3-pointers in a game (10) while leading the county in total 3-pointers. He averaged career highs in points per game at 20 while shooting 39% from deep and 82% from the free-throw line, leading the Lancers to a 16-0 start and a CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoff berth.
For his sensational season, McCord has been named The Star’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the 2025-26 season.
“I came into senior year having expectations and goals for myself and the team — that was one of them,” McCord said of The Star’s honor. “It means a lot that I got that accomplished.”
The senior, originally from Encino, moved to Woodland Hills and attended Calabasas for the first two seasons of his high school career. McCord transferred to Thousand Oaks after his sophomore season and found a basketball home.
“I just hope the younger guys that watched me and some of the guys that need to step up and saw me step up realize that they need to do the same thing,” McCord said. “I hope to inspire them and make them grow as people as well as a player.”
The groundwork for his record-setting campaign began long before season opened, in a summertime meeting with Baltau. The pair talked through the senior’s role and what he could do to become a leader on the court.
His coach’s words gave McCord the confidence to reach a new level.
“Junior year, I was afraid to shoot the ball. I wouldn’t take shots that should have gone up,” McCord said. “He just told me, ‘Get it up. It will go in.’ ”
The results spoke for themselves. McCord had big game after big game in the summer months, but a performance against Cleveland High surprised even him.
“I remember dropping 32 and I am like, ‘Alright, I am just going to do this the rest of the year,’ ” McCord said. “That Cleveland game was such a heat check for me, because some crazy shots went in. I definitely looked at my hand, like, ‘What the heck was that?’ ”
What impressed Baltau the most, however, was the way McCord learned how and when to defer to his teammates when defenses loaded up to stop him. In key games throughout the year, McCord worked to get his team in a rhythm, manipulating defenses with his scoring gravity and facilitating.
A 67-56 upset of powerhouse Chaminade during the Lancers’ red-hot start to the season was evidence of McCord’s ability to do whatever needed to win, feeding his forwards for easy baskets and making the right pass every time.
When it came down to crunch time, though, McCord took over games.
“He is this kid who wants to do big things, he wants to make the big play, he wants to make the big shot. He wanted that pressure on him,” Baltau said. “Whether it was getting to the free-throw line, making a tough floater or making a 3, he seemed to always deliver when we got him an opportunity to give us a go-ahead basket.”
McCord scored a career-high 43 points and set the Thousand Oaks program single-game 3-point record with 10 in a Senior Night victory over Newbury Park. For a kid who has had a ball in his hands since before he can remember, the moment was a dream come true.
“It’s pretty much my world,” McCord said. “It’s all I do.”
It was McCord’s 3-point shot — his basketball superpower — that most efficiently powered the Lancers offense throughout a 25-win season.
“At first, I didn’t know how I needed to step up, so I just put my game out in different ways,” McCord said. “I tried to drive, tried the middy (mid-range shot). They worked, but not as well as the 3. Once I figured out what my game really is and got it down, I was really excited for the season.”
The lefty’s herky-jerky movement with the ball in his hands and the ability to make difficult fading shots and floaters look easy helped him transform from a shooter into an all-around scorer this season.
“The guy just has a knack for filling up the scoring column. The awkward shots, the falling off-balance shots in the lane and obviously the 3-point shooting — he can make every type of 3-point shot you can think of,” Baltau said. “He is probably the most unique player I have had.”
The Star’s All-County Boys Basketball Second Team
Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Dylan McCord is The Star’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year
Reporting by Dominic Massimino, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
