Crawford Provides Spark in Moorpark Victories

His shots weren’t falling as frequently in a first-round Southern California regional game as they had in his previous outing, but Sam Crawford couldn’t have been more pleased.

His team was winning.

Moorpark went on to defeat Orange Coast, 75-64, Saturday night and advance to the second round of the state playoffs.

The 5-foot-8 freshman point guard is a flashy, explosive player who is toiling in junior college only because he couldn’t qualify academically for a Division I scholarship. He scored the last seven points in the game and finished with a game-high 20 points and 12 assists.

Crawford broke the single-season assist record for Moorpark (22-10), led the Western State Conference by averaging 12 assists and was second in the conference with a 20.4 point average.

In the final regular-season game Feb. 17 against Ventura, Crawford scored a school-record 49 points.

Moorpark, a suburban junior college, and Crawford, a city kid from Westchester High, have made a successful, if unlikely, alliance.

“I like it here,” he said. “I’d rather be at a four-year school but, having to do this, this is probably the best place for me.”