COMMUNITY COLLEGE REGIONAL MEN’S BASKETBALL : Moorpark Eliminates Golden West

Thanks to Moorpark College’s strong guard play and Golden West’s poor outside shooting Saturday night, the Raiders scored a 86-80 victory in the third round of the Southern California regional playoffs at Golden West.

Moorpark (24-10) advanced to the quarterfinal round, which starts Thursday at UC Irvine. Golden West (23-11) ended its most successful season since 1971 when the Rustlers were 26-6.

Golden West’s hopes of a second-half comeback were hurt by poor three-point shooting. The Rustlers made just two of 13 in the game and only one of 11 in the second half.

“We got open, we just didn’t get the ball to go down,” Golden West Coach Jim Greenfield said.

Moorpark’s Sam Crawford and Roger Thomas combined for 44 points. Crawford had a game-high 27 points and Thomas had 17. Each had 12 points in the first half as Moorpark built a 47-32 lead.

Golden West had led, 18-16, but Moorpark went on an 18-6 run to open a 34-24 lead with 5:01 left.

“They were tough in the first half,” Greenfield said of Crawford and Thomas. “They hurt us early and we hung our heads a little bit. In the second half, we came back and did a better job.”

Thomas was held to just five points in the second half. But Crawford, converting 11 of 14 free throw attempts, had 15. He was eight of 10 on free throws in the final two minutes to help prevent a Golden West comeback.

Golden West’s extended defense slowed Thomas in the second half, but Moorpark then moved the ball inside to forward Greg Taylor who responded with 12 of his 20 points, all on lay-ups. Golden West fell behind by as many as 19, 61-42, with 11:40 left before the Rustlers started rallied. Golden West pulled within seven, 64-57, with 8:22 left. But each time Golden West cut the lead, Crawford responded by making both ends of one and one free throws.

Golden West’s backcourt of Ric Van Scoyce (13 points) and Tom Dever (7 points) struggled at times just to get an open shot. Van Scoyce scored 27 points Wednesday as Golden West defeated Los Angeles Valley, 84-80, in the second round.

As a result, Golden West went inside to Kevin Andersen and Alex Kreps, both sophomores playing in their last game. Kreps had a team-high 26 points, including 18 in the second half. Andersen had 22.