Moorpark beat SBCC on the boards 44-21 and on the scoreboard, 66-56, in a WSC North men’s basketball game on Wednesday night in the Sports Pavilion.
Eric Becker (6-6 from the field) and CJ Edwards (5-6) combined to hit 11 of 12 shots and score 26 points but it wasn’t enough for the Vaqueros, who outshot the visitors 44 to 42 percent.
Becker, a 6-5 sophomore from Santa Ynez High, scored 14 points and Edwards had 12 for the Vaqueros, who played without leading scorer JP Dodson and Jalani Davis. Both missed the game due to illness.
”JP has been our most consistent scorer and it hurt to not have Jalani because he’s been shooting the ball well,” said coach Morris Hodges. “Those two losses hurt us in terms of our depth, our scoring and rebounding.”
Santa Barbara (3-16, 0-4) forced 18 turnovers but couldn’t keep up in the 3-point department, making just 3 of 17 while the Raiders (7-12, 3-1) converted 8 of 20.
Moorpark finished the first half on a 15-8 run to take a 33-26 lead. The margin grew to 11 points before Becker converted a layup and a two-hand slam to pull the Vaqueros within five (50-45) with just under seven minutes to go.
The Raiders regained control with a 14-6 run and went up by 13 on a follow shot by Jamal McClerkin with 1:57 remaining.
“We hit a period where the offensive rebounds were the deciding factor,” Hodges noted. “Some of that was because we were in a zone and you don’t have a man-to-man assignment. But that‘s no excuse for not putting a body on a guy.
“Our effort was tremendous tonight. We’ve shown great effort all year. It’s just been a matter of executing in some areas like boxing out and we have to shoot the ball better.”
The Vaqueros host Cuesta on Saturday at 7 p.m.
