Moorpark Pair Plays Royal Even in 73-56 Victory

If two players were going to combine for a highlight reel for the Moorpark High boys’ basketball team, it figured to be Kevin Lawrence and Keith Donahue.

The Musketeer seniors, in their third varsity season, combined to score 56 points in a 73-56 victory over Royal on Wednesday night in pool play at the Westlake tournament.

The 6-foot-5 Lawrence, who scored 31 points, and the 6-2 Donahue, who had 25, were particularly devastating in the second and third quarters when they scored 44 of Moorpark’s 50 points.

Lawrence made a two-handed dunk after a lob pass from Donahue with 1:14 left in the third quarter to give Moorpark (2-2) a 59-36 lead.

“We’ve been playing together for so long now that it’s like he’s my little brother,” Lawrence said. “Sometimes I think we know each other better than we do ourselves.”

Royal (2-3) narrowed its deficit to 68-56 with 1:14 left in the game, but the outcome was never in question after Moorpark outscored the Highlanders, 24-9, in the third quarter.

Royal, which beat Poly, 81-65, on Tuesday, led Moorpark, 17-9, after the first quarter, but Lawrence and Donahue heated up in the second quarter.

After being held to a combined three points in the first quarter, they scored scored 22 of the Musketeers’ 26 points in the second quarter to give Moorpark a 35-27 lead at halftime.

Westlake 64, Van Nuys 47--Jake DeGennaro scored 21 points and backcourt mate Joey Cuppari had 18 to lead the Warriors in scoring for the second game in a row.

DeGennaro, a 5-9 junior, had 17 points in a 69-68 victory over Calabasas on Tuesday and Cuppari, a 6-1 senior, had 14.

Westlake (3-1), which can clinch the pool A title with a win over Saugus tonight, led, 21-8, at the end of the third quarter and, 44-22, at halftime.

Abe Morabbi had 16 points for Van Nuys (0-4) after scoring 30 in a 76-72 overtime loss to Saugus on Tuesday.

Kennedy 61, Poly 59--Montell Duhon hit a reverse layup as time expired to lift the Golden Cougars.

With six seconds left, Armin Shaverdian of Kennedy (3-0) threw a length of the court pass to Nana Gbewonyo, who lost control of the ball. Duhon came up with it in the ensuing scramble.

Ellis Richardson, who didn’t play in Poly’s 81-65 loss to Royal on Tuesday because he showed up midway through the first quarter, scored 17 points for the Parrots (1-3).

Kim, Duhon and Trenton Doss each scored 14 points for the Golden Cougars.

Calabasas 58, Saugus 48--The Coyotes went on a 17-0 run to take control in the fourth quarter.

Calabasas (1-2) trailed, 21-3, in the second quarter, but outscored Saugus, 55-27, the rest of the way.

Spencer Hariton scored 22 points for Calabasas and Huton Ghoreishi had 12.

Matthew Bradley scored 15 points for Saugus (3-4).