MOORPARK COLLEGE TOURNAMENT : Moorpark Holds Off Citrus Rally to Advance to Second Round, 72-68

The fashion trend for the 1990-91 basketball season is to pull one’s game shorts as low as possible, creating a Michael Jordan-style, baggy-pants look.

Several Moorpark College players sport low-riding trunks, and, Thursday night, that’s exactly how Moorpark was nearly caught in a first-round Moorpark tournament game against winless Citrus--with its pants down.

After trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half, Citrus pulled to within three before Moorpark scavenged a 72-68 win.

“They slipped back into it. They played pretty good at the end,” Moorpark’s Damian Wilson said. “We played a little bit lazy at the end because we knew we could win the game.”

Citrus had the ball and trailed, 67-64, with two minutes remaining when Moorpark’s Sam Crawford poked the ball free and streaked back for a layup. After a steal by Wilson, Crawford made one of two free throws, then Wilson hit two of four free throws in the final 30 seconds.

Wilson led all scorers with 20 points, including 10 consecutive points at one stretch. Crawford attempted only seven field goals and finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Moorpark (6-1) will play Pasadena at 7 tonight.

In other first-round games:

Ventura 95, Rio Hondo 65--Ventura Coach Phil Mathews used his bench extensively before the first half was complete and had his starters out for good midway through the second half.

Ten players scored for Ventura, led by Chris Vance off the bench with a team-high 19 points.

Starting forward DiJon Barnard and Uba Satterfield scored 18 and 16, respectively.

Ventura (7-1) will play Mt. San Antonio at 9 tonight.

Pasadena City 97, Oxnard 80--Tim Thomas led Oxnard with 22 points, and scored 11 consecutive points in the second half to help his team remain in the game. However, Oxnard could pull no closer than five points at 78-73.

Don Mitchell scored 21 points for Oxnard. Andy Beltowski scored 14 and Shawn Talley added 10.