Canyons Upends Oxnard in Double Overtime, 95-92

It was difficult to tell if College of the Canyons center Jason Joynes was breathing a sigh of relief or one of exhaustion Saturday night after the Cougars’ 95-92 double-overtime victory over Oxnard in a nonconference basketball game at Santa Clara High.

Joynes, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound freshman from Adelaide, Australia, scored a season-high 31 points, but he would have been the goat had Canyons had lost.

With Canyons trailing, 82-81, at the end of the first overtime, Joynes was fouled while shooting as time expired. He sank the first free throw to tie the score, then missed the second by a good foot and a half, completely missing the rim.

“I don’t know what happened there,” Joynes said with a smile. “I felt very relaxed after the first shot. Maybe I was too relaxed. Perhaps I was just exhausted.”

Joynes had reason to be tired. He had scored 15 points in the second half and also had nine rebounds in the game.

Marquis Wilborn scored seven of his 15 points in the second overtime to help take Joynes off the hook.

Wilborn started the second overtime with a driving shot in the lane to give the Cougars a 84-82 lead, and his three-point play gave Canyons a 91-87 advantage with 1:40 left in the period. His final basket gave Canyons a 95-92 lead with 18 seconds left.

Oxnard’s Shawn Talley (18 points) had a chance to tie the score, but his three-point attempt bounced off the rim with eight seconds left and Canyons rebounded and ran out the clock.

“You hate to see any team lose a game like this,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “It’s too bad somebody had too. (Oxnard Coach Remy McCarthy) did a great job with those kids. He really had them ready to play.”

Trailing, 34-30, at halftime, Canyons began the second half with a 15-4 run, sparked by Joynes (eight points) and David Langley (seven). The Cougars led by as many as seven points in the second 20-minute period, but Oxnard (9-8) refused to fold.

The Condors trailed, 70-65, with a minute left in regulation, but Talley hit a pair of free throws with 56 seconds left, and a three-point shot with 34 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

Langley scored a game-high 24 points for Canyons, while Oxnard’s Malik Williams and James Parker had 19 and 15 points, respectively.

Williams scored 11 of his points in overtime, including nine on three three-point shots.