Moorpark Tops Cold-Shooting Antelope Valley

One could say that Antelope Valley College shot itself in the foot in a 106-94 men’s nonconference basketball loss to Moorpark on Wednesday night, but the way the Antelope Valley players were shooting, they probably could not have hit themselves in the foot.

Visiting Antelope Valley struggled with 42.7% shooting from the field and 58.6% from the free-throw line and went down by the largest margin of defeat in Coach Newton Chelette’s two seasons at the school.

Moorpark, meanwhile, rode 69.4% second-half shooting to score 65 points after the break and overcome a 45-41 halftime deficit.

“I hope it was a wake-up call,” Antelope Valley’s Tony Madison said. “This was a test.”

The game matched two of the top teams in the region and was a rematch from the state tournament last year. Moorpark also surprised Antelope Valley in that game, knocking the Marauders out in the second round, 85-75.

Antelope Valley (2-1) pulled within a point, 83-82, with less than 10 minutes to play, but Moorpark reeled off six consecutive points and built a 10-point lead with less than two minutes left.

Moorpark (5-1) managed without a single point from leading scorer Damian Wilson, who averages 23.4 points a game.

Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist said Wilson, who did not play in the first half and saw only two minutes of action in the second half, was late for the game.

“We missed him a lot, but you can’t tell from the score,” Moorpark’s Jimmy Galbert said.

Five Moorpark players scored in double figures in Wilson’s stead. Mike Waggoner and Sam Crawford each scored 19. Galbert scored 17, all in the second half, and Aaron Smith and Rich Murphy came off the bench to score 18 and 14, respectively. Crawford had a game-high 14 assists.

Galbert made seven of eight shots from the field and Smith made seven of nine and added a team-high eight rebounds.

Crawford and Madison, who have both signed with New Mexico State, shot the ball as if it were a rock.

Crawford was six of 15 from the field, three of six from the free-throw line.

Madison missed his first eight shots--zero for seven in a scoreless first half--and finished five of 15 from the field. He scored 17 points, 13 below his average.

“They played good defense early,” Chelette said of Moorpark. “They took Tony out of the game and the gave us other things to do and we did them.”

Point guard LeVan Lide picked up some of the scoring slack for Antelope Valley with 18 first-half points and a game-high total of 33.

“There wasn’t a lot of defense tonight,” Nordquist said. “It was just an up-and-down game, not well played. We got by on our talent rather than execution.”