Oxnard Soars to New Heights at Moorpark

Bernabe Simon scored 19 points and Chris Massie had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead Oxnard College past Moorpark, 79-74, in a Western State Conference Northern Division men’s basketball opener Saturday night at Moorpark.

It was Oxnard’s first division victory since the 1996-97 season.

“This was a big game for us in a lot of ways,” Coach Ron McClurkin said. “We’ve gone 0-8 in [the division] the last two [seasons] and we hadn’t played a game since Dec. 29. I wasn’t sure how we’d perform.”

Massie, a 6-foot-8 freshman center from Houston, is among nine out-of-state players at Oxnard, but he felt right at home in the key, blocking four shots, stealing three passes and disrupting Mooorpark’s offensive flow.

“He got three fouls early but that teaches him to play smarter,” McClurkin said. “We committed too many turnovers, but on the other hand, I thought we would have the advantage in rebounding, and we did.”

Moorpark (15-6), ranked No. 6 in the state, led, 61-60, with 6:20 to play.

But a three-point basket by Eddie Cooke and a dunk by Massie ignited a 15-6 run that put Oxnard (14-6) in the lead to stay.

Tellys Knight scored 16 points and Cooke added 10 for the Condors, ranked No. 20 in the state.

Allen Case led the Raiders with 19 points.

“I scouted three of their games and he’s the player I was most afraid of,” McClurkin said of Case. “Dan Galvanoni is a great player too and he’s going to get his points, but when Case gets going, they are even harder to beat.”

Galvanoni, a sharpshooting guard who transferred from Nevada, scored 18 points. He made 10 of 11 free throws.

Oxnard led most of the first half, but sophomore guard O.J. Thomas’ bank shot gave the Raiders their first lead since the opening minutes, 26-25, with 5:51 before the half.

Simon took over from there. He hit a three-point shot from the corner and converted a three-point play to spark a 13-2 run that gave Oxnard its biggest lead, 38-28, with less than three minutes remaining in the half.

Moorpark closed to within 75-70 with about a minute to play, but Simon iced the game with four free throws in the final 19 seconds.

Kenny Plummer scored 15 points for Moorpark, which lost for the second consecutive time after falling to Santa Monica on Wednesday.