VENTURA COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Generous Moorpark Survives Late Rally

After leading by double digits for a good portion of the game, the Moorpark College men’s basketball team had to hang on for a 91-88 victory over Antelope Valley in the semifinals of the Ventura tournament Saturday night.

Moorpark (4-1) will face Ventura in the championship game tonight at 7. Antelope Valley will meet Santa Barbara in the third-place game at 5.

Moorpark led by as many as 17 points in the second half but the Marauders (3-4) pulled to within 89-88 on two free throws by Jerome Payton with 24 seconds left.

Moorpark point guard Jaime Jaquez scored the final two points of the game on free throws with 13 seconds remaining. Jaquez finished with a team-high 27 points, including 20 in the second half.

Marauder forward Orville Turner missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer. Turner led all scorers with 32 points and made seven three-point shots. He also had nine rebounds.

“One of the things we have to quit doing is let people back in the game,” Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist said.

Moorpark led Kings River by 15 points in the first half of its first-round game Friday but escaped with a 57-50 victory.

Against Antelope Valley, the Raiders held a 37-35 halftime lead behind the shooting of Nick Foster, who scored 13 of his 23 points in the first half. He also had a game-high 14 rebounds.

Neither team shot well from the free-throw line.

Antelope Valley shot 68.5% (24 of 35) and Moorpark shot 58.9% (23 of 39). Antelope Valley also couldn’t find the basket from long range, making only 44.4% (12 of 27) of its three-point attempts.

Guard Troy Coutee scored 15 points for Antelope Valley. Brandon McIntire and Derrick Barker each had 11.

Paul Foster contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds for Moorpark.

Ventura 103, Santa Barbara 72--The Pirates (5-0) advanced to the championship game with their fifth 100-point performance.

Shannon Taylor and Curtis Gaines each scored 15 points to pace the Pirates in a matchup between Western State Conference North Division rivals.

Lance Fay, Kenny Washington and Hakeen Ward each scored 11 points for Ventura.

Mark Kepler led Santa Barbara with 13 points. Mark Small added 12.