Canyons Falls on Late Shot by Nunnery

College of the Canyons faced a dilemma Saturday night: how to simultaneously stop the strong inside game and potent outside shooting of Oxnard.

Canyons was unable to solve the problem and suffered a 79-76 Western State Conference loss at Santa Clara High.

“When we try to help out inside they would hit the shots from the three-point line,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “When we defend outside, then we get hurt inside.”

It was the inside game that finally sealed the victory for Oxnard (14-8, 4-2 in conference play), which is ranked 20th in the state by JC Grid-Wire.

Former Channel Islands High standout Paul Nunnery grabbed an offensive rebound, put a stutter fake on 2 Cougar defenders and scored the deciding basket with 40 seconds left to give Oxnard a 77-76 lead.

Nunnery, who scored 10 points in the second half after he sat out most of the first half because of foul trouble, earned high praise from Oxnard Coach Remy McCarthy.

“Paul is a great athlete,” McCarthy said. “It really hurt us when he was out, but he concentrated in the second half and got the key rebound and the winner for us.”

Canyons (11-13, 2-5), which trailed Oxnard by as many as 10 points late in the first half, fought back behind the 10 points of 6-foot, 8-inch freshman center Justin Scott and forward Sean Cash’s 10 rebounds. Oxnard led only 40-37 at halftime.

Forward Aaron Clark gave Canyons its first lead since the opening basket with a short jump shot 3 minutes into the second half.

The Cougars took their biggest lead, 59-54, on a 3-point play by Scott midway through the half. But the Condors went on an 8-point run to regain the lead, 62-59.

Scott, who had 13 points for the Cougars, was a big surprise for McCarthy. “We didn’t know anything about him,” he said. “We weren’t ready for the big man and he hurt us.”

The big man--6-7 Deon Myricks--left a big void for Canyons because he was on the bench the entire first half as a disciplinary measure after missing a practice.

Myricks scored 6 points in the second half, including the Cougars’ final basket with 1:50 to play that gave them a 76-75.

“We stayed with them but we didn’t get to make as many shots as we would have liked to, and we needed a couple of more rebounds,” Smelser said.

Oxnard made 50% of its field-goal attempts and outrebounded the taller Cougars, 40-29. Randy Carter had a game-high 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Condors.