Short-Handed Moorpark Finds Rio Hondo a Tall Order, 68-24

Can $200 mean the difference between winning and losing in college basketball?

Maybe. Friday, while their teammates were huffing and puffing and getting blown down by Rio Hondo, 68-24, Moorpark College’s Danny Camp and Jeff Jones were spending their first day at home in Florida for Christmas vacation.

They left town Friday to avoid paying an extra $200 for a later flight.

Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist wasn’t about to shell out travel pay so Camp, the team’s second-leading scorer, and Jones, a key reserve guard, could stick around.

“Why don’t their parents pay for it?” he asked.

Moorpark, with only seven players, fell victim to the Roadrunners in the contest for third place in the Crown City tournament in Pasadena.

The Raiders were coming off a win last week in the Mid-State tournament and two tough Crown City games. They walked into the gym Friday wounded, weary and weak.

Guard Darren McKinney didn’t make the trip because of an injury and the team’s leading scorer, Danny Berryman, was suffering from flu symptons. Berryman had to leave the game several times because of dizziness and a steady stream of blood running from his nose.

According to Nordquist, he may have passed the bug along.

“When you live, work and play ball together, and one of your guys is sick, he’s bound to give it to a couple other guys,” Nordquist said.

That’s not Nordquist making excuses. He doesn’t have to. Two weeks prior to the start of its defense of the Western State Conference title, the Raiders still have a fine record of 10-3. But Nordquist will be the first to tell you that Rio Hondo deserved the win.

“In the second half, they were very patient,” he said. He believes the Roadrunners have improved since losing to the Raiders, 91-78, in the Moorpark College tournament earlier this season. “Tonight, they were able to shoot on our zone. They didn’t get much on the inside, but it seemed like they got everything on the wings.”

Rio Hondo forwards Reggie Hollis, Eric James and Nathan Hodge were the party responsible for turning the outside court into a free-fire zone. Hollis scored 19 points, James had 16 and Hodge added 15, mostly from outside 15 feet.

In contrast to Hollis and company, Moorpark’s leading scorer was 6-7 forward Chad Staples, who had nine.

“With Camp away and Berryman sick, it gave our inside guys a lot of responsibility,” Nordquist said. “That’s experience that we need.”

Reserve guard Sean Morris saw some action Friday, scoring a point and getting a steal in limited action.

LA Southwest 79, Valley 78--Despite a 17-point lead, 23 points from John Windham and last-minute heroics by Rodney Wright, the Monarchs lost to L. A. Southwest in the consolation final.

Valley (6-8) led at the half, 48-36, but Southwest went on a binge in the middle of the second, outscoring Valley, 12-2, to come within one point, 60-59.

Gary Goodrich hit a 10-foot turn-around jumper to put Valley up, 62-59, but after that, Southwest (12-3) took control.

Southwest led by as many as five points until the last two minutes, then Fred Lewis hit two free throws and Wright took it upon himself to get the ball down court and score. Suddenly, Valley was back in the game, 77-76, with 13 seconds left. Troy William was fouled and hit two from the line for the Cougars with seven seconds left. Valley’s Erik Harden scored as time ran out.

Of Windham, Valley Coach Virgil Watson said: “Yeah, he scored a lot of points, but I would have liked to seen him get a lot more rebounds.”