Cold Glendale Fades Against Oxnard, 56-47

The Oxnard College men’s basketball team will begin Western State Conference North Division play this week riding a three-game winning streak, but the Condors will not exactly be soaring high.

Oxnard defeated Glendale, 56-47, in a WSC interdivision game at Santa Clara High on Saturday night for its third consecutive win, but the victory was far from pretty.

Oxnard (12-9) made only four of 15 shots from the field, three of nine free throws, and turned the ball over three times in the last 8 minutes 39 seconds, yet won going away.

That’s because the Vaqueros went zero for everything during that stretch, missing 16 shots from the field and the lone free throw they attempted. They also turned the ball over twice.

“It was a great win for us because the kids competed and won,” Oxnard Coach Remy McCarthy said. “They play good defense, but we just outdefended them down the stretch. . . . I can’t believe they didn’t score in the last eight minutes.”

Neither could Glendale Coach Brian Beauchemin.

“I chastised them for missing free throws and taking bad shots,” Beauchemin said. “That’s why we lost.”

Trailing, 45-40, midway through the second half, Glendale scored on three consecutive possessions to take a 47-45 lead with 8:39 left.

Juwan Smith started the run with a basket inside, Harry Marks followed with a three-point basket, and a pair of Osiris Nalls’ free throws capped the surge.

That was the last time the Vaquero offense was heard from.

Oxnard’s James Parker scored a basket after a Shawn Talley miss to tie the score, 47-47, on the Condors’ next possession, and Malik Williams’ layup--off an assist from Talley--gave Oxnard a lead it would not relinquish with 7:10 remaining.

Parker scored a team-high 15 points for Oxnard. Art Wallace had 14 points and Tony Ziuraitis added 10 for the Condors.

Talley, Oxnard’s leading scorer, was held to five points, none in the second half.

“Anytime we get only five points out of Shawn and shoot only 12 of 20 from the free-throw line, it’s a big win for us,” McCarthy said.

The Vaqueros, lacking the size to compete with Oxnard inside, knew they would have to shoot well from the perimeter to win, and they didn’t. Glendale made only seven of 21 three-point attempts in the game after going four for six from beyond the three-point line in the first half.

“At halftime, I thought we were going to win this game because we were getting--and hitting--our shots from outside,” Beauchemin said. “We just didn’t carry that over to the second half.”

Alfonso Pule scored a game-high 18 points for Glendale, but no other Vaquero tallied double figures.

Will Burr had nine points--on three, three-point baskets--but he failed to score after intermission.

Oxnard led, 31-30, after a half in which neither team shot well. The Condors, who hit 21 of 63 field-goal attempts in the game, were 11 of 31 from the field, with the Vaqueros only marginally better at 11 of 27.

Burr missed his first two shots of the game but made three of his last four. His final basket came from well beyond the three-point line as time expired in the first half and gave Glendale the momentum going into the locker room.

The Vaqueros, led by Pule (11 points), had streaked to a 15-9 lead in the first 6:40 of the game, but scored only one point in the next 6:22, and trailed, 23-16, with 6:58 left in the half.