Slow start hurts Vaqueros in 84-60 setback

Moorpark jumped out to a 15-0 lead on Wednesday night and never looked back in an 84-60 WSC North men's basketball victory over SBCC at the Sports Pavilion.

Joshua Brooks had 23 points and Larry Bush added 18 for the Raiders (11-9, 1-2), who led 40-32 at halftime. SBCC (4-10, 0-2) trailed by as many as 16 in the first half before closing with a 7-0 run to pull within eight at 40-32.

Sean Keyes led SBCC's balanced scoring attack with 13 points off the bench. Ty Cleland had 12, Tommy Walker scored 11 and Justin Holden added 10. Alex Koutroubis contributed six points and nine rebounds.

Moorpark outshot the Vaqueros 50.7 to 34.8 percent. The Raiders drained a sizzling 60 percent (21-35) in the second half, thanks to numerous layups. SBCC only shot 34.3 percent in the second half, including 1-12 on 3-pointers.

"Our inability to handle the press was our Achilles heel in the first half," said coach Morris Hodges. "We made a lot of poor decisions. They got off to a big lead. I thought we did a nice job of battling back in the first half. Then in the second half, we continued to turn the ball over and defensively, we were very poor. There was no resistance."

Santa Barbara committed 19 turnovers, leading to 19 points. The Raiders made 18 steals with many coming on the full-court press.

The Vaqueros got within seven (43-36) on two free throws by Jon Montez early in the second half but the Raiders responded with a 14-2 burst to stretch the lead to 19 at 57-38 with 15:20 to play.

"Whenever you turn the ball over and don't get a good shot, it really digs in and then you're on defense for an extended period," Hodges noted. "They got off to a fast start and we dug a hole that was too deep." 

SBCC hosts Cuesta on Saturday at 5 p.m.