Marauders come back to defeat Moorpark in OT

LANCASTER — When the Antelope Valley College men’s basketball team looks back at its season, it might reference one game in particular.

Should the Marauders be fortunate to make the postseason, they may look back at their game against Moorpark.

It wasn’t a 30-point flashy victory, but it was a hardfought game that AVC dug deep inside itself to win.

The Marauders dug themselves a hole in the first half but responded to send the game into overtime. In overtime, they showed their character with a gritty, 76-75 victory, against the Raiders in the opening round of the annual Gregg Anderson Memorial Tournament at Antelope Valley College.

“These guys are tough. They brought a lot of energy, and they never seem to give up,” AVC head coach John Taylor said. “We have to be unselfish and get the ball to the right people at the right time. I was a little disappointed by

our rebounding in the first half, but we got some huge rebounds down the stretch.”

The Marauders (4-3) trailed 68-63 with 2:35 remaining in the second half. Gerrod Franklin hit one of two free throws to get AVC within four, 68-64. Later in the game, Franklin hit a 3-pointer, his only one of the game, to carve into the lead, 68-67, with 55 seconds left in the game.

“That was one of the biggest shots of the night,” Taylor said.

Following a missed shot by Moorpark (5-4), AVC’s Joshua Assiff was fouled with 13.8 seconds left. Assiff hit the first of the one-plus-one to tie the score, 68-68. The Raiders’ Jack Benyshek missed a 15-footer as time expired sending the game into overtime.

“We got off to a bit of a shaky start,” said Assiff, who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. “We wanted to come out like gangbusters in front of the home crowd at our first home game. But what I think about this team is we’re persevering. We’re resilient. The team game always wins, and I thought we did a great job of that tonight. We have to continue to work on not making those unforced errors, and we’ll be extremely dangerous. I’m not pleased with the victory, but I’m happy we won.”

In the extra session, AVC took a 74-72 lead following a bucket by Evan Scott-Alexander with 2:20 remaining. The Raiders responded with a conventional 3-point play putting them back up, 75-74.

Assiff showed his sophomore leadership and scored with 70 seconds left following an off-balance layup. Later in the overtime, the Marauders were clinging to a onepoint lead when a dangerous turnover gave the ball back to Moorpark. The Raiders missed a golden opportunity on their end after a missed shot underneath the basket.

AVC turned the ball right back over with 11.1 seconds left in the game. Tim Lopez missed a 3-pointer as the Raiders grabbed the rebound and had one final chance with 1.6 seconds remaining. Once again, Moorpark missed a shot at the buzzer, preserving the victory for AVC.

“We started off slow in the first half, but in the second half we came together. We took it to them down the stretch,” said Scott-Alexander, who led the game with 25 points on 9-of-20 shooting and added six assists. “We played as a unit. This was a great team win. We showed we’re able to handle adversity. We were able to grind it out and chip away. Our energy was good, but we have to carry it over to each game.”

With the victory, the Marauders will face Victor Valley College today at 7 p.m. in one semifinal game. Pasadena City College will face Ventura College in the other semifinal at 5 p.m.

One key cog in AVC’s comeback was Kaelin Smith, who came off the bench and finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Smith hit some critical shots to help the Marauders get back in the game and stay close. He outscored the entire Moorpark bench by himself, 21-17.

“Overall, I’m pleased they stuck through everything. It could have been anybody’s game,” Taylor said. “I think our schedule has been really helping us.”

The Marauders started slow and trailed 13-3 early in the first half. They began to slowly chip away at the Raiders’ lead and actually led 3635 after one.