JC Basketball High on Scoring, Low on Crowds

With such exciting talent, it’s hard to believe that junior college basketball games are attracting about as many fans as a JC baseball practice.

But that hasn’t stopped four Valley-area players from shooting out the lights in empty gyms.

At College of the Canyons, the shooting of Vincent Ray and James Mixon has led the Cougars to three straight wins in the Mountain Valley Conference. At Moorpark, Danny Camp and Danny Berryman have propelled the Raiders to the best overall record in the Western State Conference.

All four rank in the state’s top 20 scorers.

Ray, a 6-3 forward from Grant High, is averaging 23.2 points a game, 10th in the state. He is the leading scorer among Valley-area JCs.

The sophomore has scored 27, 33, 27 and 28 points in his last four games and is second only to Moorpark’s Dave Inemer in rebounding, averaging a little more the seven a game.

“He has lived up to what I had expected of him this season,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said, “on and off the floor. He’s a real fine player and that has been a settling thing for us.”

Smelser said Ray is being looked to for leadership at Canyons since Mixon is the only starter that returned from last season’s conference championship team. “He’s under the gun this season,” Smelser said. “He knows he has to come through for us this season and he has accepted that role.”

Mixon isn’t under the gun as much as he is behind it. The 6-0 guard, a sophomore from San Fernando High, is averaging 20.9 points a game.

At Moorpark, Camp’s quickness and outside shooting, along with Berryman’s ball handling and ability to get inside, have given Moorpark fans--what there are of them--something to cheer about.

Camp, a 6-4 guard from Florida, is averaging 20.2 points a game, and Berryman, a 6-3 guard from Kentucky, is averaging 20.9. Last season, Berryman was a member of the first team All-Lone Star State Conference at Howard Payne College in Brownwood, Texas.

Camp played at South Florida University before an illness forced him to leave the team and, eventually, the university.

“Camp has better quickness and is a better outside shooter,” Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist said. “Berryman is a better ball-handler and gets inside and can post a lot better.

“Both have different attributes they have brought to the team. Both are potential Division I players. They’re both explosive players. You never know what they’re going to get going.”

Following the bouncing Ball: La Var Ball, who led Canoga Park High in scoring last season, bounced over to West L. A. College this season and is continuing his accurate aim.

The freshman forward is hitting 58.2% of his shots, second in the Mountain Valley Conference. Ball, an All-Valley 3-A League selection in his senior year with the Hunters, is ninth in rebounding (5.9) and 16th in overall scoring (10.5). In the Oilers’ 92-81 loss to Canyons on Wednesday night, Ball came off the bench to score a team-high 20.

Maybe next week: While watching Moorpark play Ventura last week, Valley College center Mario Lopez told a reporter: “Tell your editor that you have to cover our game against Southwest. It’s going to be the game of the week.”

It was--for Southwest.

Valley lost, 70-63, on Friday. Lopez, who is known better for his shooting than for his clairvoyance, scored a game-high 24 for the losers.

Who could blame him?: After his team lost, 66-55, to Ventura--for the first time since 1978--a Ventura-area reporter asked Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist what he liked about Ventura.

Said Nordquist: “I don’t like anything about Ventura.”

But others like Ventura: Under first-year coach Phil Mathews, Ventura upset perennial power Taft, 77-74, jumped out to a 4-0 record in the Western State Conference, had a six-game winning streak and were 11-5 overall.

After beating Moorpark, 66-55, at Ventura, it looked like the Pirates would be legitimate contenders for the WSC title. Last season, they finished at the bottom of the standings.

On Saturday, however, the Pirates were given a little lesson in humility by Allan Hancock. The Pirates lost their first conference game, 61-58, to the Bulldogs, who are perennial conference cellar-dwellers.

Tie-breaking try: When Cal Lutheran beat Fresno Pacific on Tuesday night, it was the second win in a row for the Kingsmen--equaling their longest win streak of the season. The Kingsmen (5-15, 2-4) get a chance to better the mark when they play Azusa Pacific (7-15, 2-3) on Saturday night at 7:30. In that game, Cal Lutheran will face last week’s NAIA District III player of the week--Cougar center Bill DesRochers.

DesRochers scored 28 in Azusa Pacific’s upset win over Point Loma.