Wilson, Moorpark Edge Valley, 89-83

It was a classic Catch-22, but Valley College could define it as a problem catching 20.

If the Valley defenders attempted to shut off Damian Wilson, No. 20 for Moorpark, he drove past them, and if Valley sagged, he hit from outside.

The Valley players are on Christmas break, but Wilson took them back to school Saturday night with 18 points in the second half and 27 overall in an 89-83 Moorpark victory at Moorpark.

The game between Western State Conference foes was not counted as a conference contest because the teams play in different divisions.

“As soon as we started hitting from the outside and then going inside, they couldn’t stop us neither way,” said Wilson, who has been ill and did not start.

Moorpark trailed, 45-40, at halftime but ended the Monarchs’ reign with an outside umbrella of Nate Hantgin, Sam Crawford and Wilson, who set up just beyond the three-point line. The outsiders took turns carrying the Moorpark offense.

Crawford, who finished with 21 points and 11 assists, scored Moorpark’s first seven points of the second half.

A three-point shot by Crawford gave Moorpark its first lead, 54-53, at the 14:55 mark.

Hantgin soon followed with three consecutive three-point baskets within the space of a minute to push Moorpark’s lead to 65-57. Hantgin scored a career-high 18 points and made five of eight three-point attempts.

Wilson took control in the final 10 minutes, scoring 16 of Moorpark’s final 22 points.

Moorpark (14-2) needed the second-half surge to overcome a strong Valley performance.

Playing without Rick Garrick, who had injured his ankle the night before, Valley (9-7) remained in the game until the final seconds.

“Without our leader and everything, I thought we did a good job,” Valley Coach Jim Stephens said. “We played a pretty good ball team and ran out of gas.”

Valley’s Tory Stephens led all scorers with 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Nathan Hall, Stephens’ running mate at guard, made nine of 13 field goal attempts and scored 20. Russell Baldwin added 20 points and 13 rebounds.

“Stephens had a great game,” Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist said. “They played extremely well in the first half.”

Moorpark had difficulty getting out of the blocks and away from Valley center Art Kirksey’s blocks--four in the first half alone.

Although the gym temperature was up to normal by game time, the maintenance crew had turned off the heat earlier in the week when Moorpark adjourned for Christmas break.

Moorpark was a stone-cold 13 of 35 from the field and nine of 20 from the free-throw line before intermission.

Valley, meanwhile, made 19 of 35 field-goal attempts and three of three free throws.

Moorpark’s Sean Doyle, starting at center in place of Aaron Smith who is home in Connecticut for Christmas, scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.