COLLEGE BASKETBALL MOORPARK TOURNAMENT : Mt. San Antonio Takes Charge in 2nd Half to Upend Raiders

The Moorpark College basketball team doesn’t know if or when guard Damian Wilson will return this season.

But the Raiders know one thing for certain: They will not be defending their title at the Moorpark tournament.

Mt. San Antonio made sure of that Wednesday night, shutting down the Raider offense in the second half to take a 69-54 first-round victory in a rematch of last year’s tournament championship finalists.

Moorpark (2-5) is 1-2 without Wilson, who was asked by Coach Al Nordquist to leave the team nearly two weeks ago for reasons Nordquist will not disclose. Nordquist, however, continues to leave the door open should Wilson choose to return.

“It’s his choice, but he has to figure out what’s right and what he wants to do,” Nordquist said. “He was a great asset when he did what he was supposed to do.

“I believe we can play without Damian. We’re going to have to.”

Moorpark hung in with Mt. San Antonio (6-2) for a half and trailed by just five points, 36-31, at intermission. But the Raiders suffered through a 10 1/2-minute stretch in the second half in which they converted just one of 10 field-goal attempts and scored just three points.

Suddenly a 45-40 Raider deficit had mushroomed to 61-43 with under six minutes to play.

“We got tired and we didn’t execute the offense,” Nordquist said. “We’ve basically changed the whole offense because it was built around (Wilson), and we’ve had only about three days to practice it. It’s going to take us a while to get our offense going.”

Moorpark, which shot just 33% from the field in the second half, got 13 points from Carlos Vasquez and 12 from freshman point guard Brian Lester, who replaced Wilson in the lineup.

Mt. San Antonio was led by Mack Reliford and Joe Gonzales, who each scored 18 points.

Moorpark will meet Rio Hondo, a 90-80 loser to Compton, in a consolation semifinal game today at 4 p.m.

In another Moorpark tournament game:

Ventura 88, Harbor 76--Harbor (4-3) was robbed, then beaten by Ventura (7-1) in the tournament opener.

The Seahawks, who had their jerseys stolen from the athletic office at Harbor, wore Moorpark jerseys and then wore down in the second half against the Pirates.

“They got tired and couldn’t play any defense, and we pulled away at the end,” Ventura assistant Roy Gilmore said.

Freshman Michael Tate sank 11 of 12 field-goal attempts and had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Ventura. Stephane Brown and Chico Langston added 14 and 10 points for the Pirates.

Kent Bennett led Harbor with 20 points.

Ventura will meet Pasadena (6-2), an 84-69 winner over San Jose City College (3-3), in a semifinal game tonight at 6.