Moorpark Can’t Hold Early Lead

Moorpark College took an early 20-12 lead Thursday night over Santa Barbara and looked as if it was going to run away with everything.

It was Santa Barbara, however, that walked out of Raider Pavilion with a 60-56 Western State Conference victory, leaving the Raiders scouring the court looking for a win that was almost in the bag.

The first indication that Moorpark’s night might turn into a nightmare came in the closing minutes of the first half, when the Vaqueros (14-9 overall, 4-2 in conference) went on a 22-4 run to turn the 20-12 deficit into a 34-24 halftime advantage.

Freshman forward Reynold Baly scored eight of his 10 points during the five-minute spree as Santa Barbara took advantage of five Moorpark turnovers.

Raiders Coach Al Nordquist, whose Raiders lost their third straight conference game, blamed himself, in part, for the late first-half breakdown.

“Things just got out of control there,” he said. “We should have stopped the clock in there somewhere. That was a coaching mistake.”

Santa Barbara held Danny Berryman, the Raiders’ standout guard, to only six points in the first 20 minutes.

Berryman shook off the slow start, however, scoring Moorpark’s first nine points in the second half, as the Raiders (13-8, 2-4) pulled to within three, 36-33.

Kenny Johnson’s pair of free throws finished a 15-2 spurt, which enabled Moorpark to claim a 39-36 lead.

Santa Barbara took the lead for good with 2:08 left in the game, when Jim McCoy hit a turn-around jumper from seven feet to give the Vaqueros a 51-50 edge.

Berryman, who, along with teammate Dan Camp is among the state’s top 20 scorers, finished with a game-high 23 points. Camp, who scored 10 in the first half, did not score in the second and fouled out with 1:29 left. Both players entered the game with 20-point averages.

Point guard Steve Abraham added eight points and eight assists for the Raiders.

Four Santa Barbara players scored in double figures.

McCoy and Kevin Stevenson each scored 16, while Baly and reserve guard Lee Moore each had 10 points.

Moore had seven points--all on free throws--in the closing minutes, when Moorpark was forced to foul.

He was six of six from the free throw line in the last 1:45.

“It got to the point where I wanted to be fouled,” Moore said. “I felt confident that I would hit every shot I took from the line. It feels really good to know that I made the shots that sealed it for us.”

Despite the victory, Santa Barbara Coach Frank Carbajal was still disappointed with his team’s performance.

“We had a chance to put it away early and our shooting failed us,” he said. “The guys that were supposed to do it for us didn’t. It just seemed like nobody, on either team, wanted to win this one.”