Moorpark Noses Out Golden West En Route to Quarterfinals

With eight seconds left in Saturday night’s playoff game against Golden West College, Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist pulled out a handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his face, and returned the damp hanky to his trousers.

Nervous time was over and Nordquist finally had the victory, like the handkerchief, in his back pocket.

Moorpark advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals of the state junior college basketball tournament with an 86-80 win at Golden West.

But what looked to be a Moorpark runaway in the first half became a tense struggle in the final 10 minutes before the Raiders (24-10) subdued the Rustlers (23-11) with clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch.

“I thought that was as good a first half as we’ve played maybe all year,” said Nordquist, whose team rolled to a 47-32 lead by intermission.

“We expected them to make a run. You don’t expect good teams to quit.”

Moorpark took command late in the first half, outscoring Golden West, 20-8, over the final seven minutes.

Raider guards Roger Thomas and Sam Crawford each scored 12 first-half points and forward Mike Waggoner had 12 first-half rebounds.

Moorpark’s lead ballooned to 55-36 less than three minutes into the second half before Golden West began its comeback.

Sophomore forward Kevin Andersen and sophomore center Alex Kreps keyed the Rustler charge.

Andersen scored 12 of his 22 points in the second half and Kreps scored 18 of his 26 in the final 20 minutes. They also finished with 13 and 12 rebounds, respectively.

Golden West closed to 72-65 with 2 minutes 51 seconds to play, and it became a matter of Moorpark converting free throws the rest of the way as the Raiders scored just two more baskets.

And convert Moorpark did. Using Nordquist’s now-legendary “body-alignment method,” the Raiders sank 10 of 12 free throws in the final 2:17 to hold off the Rustlers.

Crawford, who led all scorers with 27 points, was eight of nine down the stretch, and center Greg Taylor, who scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds, was two of two. Taylor hit nine of 10 field-goal attempts in the game.

Thomas finished with 17 points, and Waggoner and Bruce Watson each had 10. Waggoner finished with a game-high 16 rebounds.

The final round of eight begins Thursday at UC Irvine.

“We’re ready,” Nordquist said. “I think this team is just coming together now. We’re playing real well.”