PG Matt Mazarei put on a spectacular show with 40 points, including a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer, to lead #14 Moorpark (16-9, 8-3) to a 99-73 win over Allan Hancock (2-22, 0-10) in a WSC-North matinee Saturday at Raider Pavilion.
Mazarei made his first five shots of the day, and made 11 of 13 in the first half including 4 threes. His only missed were a contested lay-up on which he hit the bottom of the rim, and a driving lay-up that was blocked. He finished 13 of 17 for the day, including 5 threes, and also dished out a game-high 8 assists.
In Moorpark's final regular season home game of 2009-10, Mazarei started by scoring 13 of his team's first 20 points to help the Raiders take a 20-12 lead. He then scored on a lay-up to push the lead to nine at 24-15. Then he assisted on a basket by SF Eric Strangis to push the lead to double figures at 27-15.
But that was just the beginning. Hancock narrowed the gap to four points at 31-27 with 6:02 left in the first half and still trailed by just five at 43-38 when Mazarei hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half to make it 46-38. Then, after a Hancock miss, PF Spencer Schulte grabbed the rebound and passed to Mazarei, who drained a half-court 3-pointer as the horn sounded for halftime, giving him 29 points to that point at Moorpark a 49-38 lead at the break.
Once the second half started, Moorpark quickly extended its lead, with a 3-pointer by SG Kyle Olandt pushing the margin to 15 at 61-46, and Hancock never got the margin back to single digits again.
In fact, Moorpark kept widening the lead, thanks largely to Mazarei. A 3-point play by Mazarei made it a 20-point game at 83-63. Then Mazarei hit a 3-point field goal to make it 86-63. That was his final shot of the day, giving him an even 40 points, but then he threw an alley-oop pass to SF Wendell Antoine, who converted it for a dunk to make it 88-63. Moments later, he passed to Meza, who drained a three to make it 93-66, giving Mazarei 8 assists, easily the game-high total.
It was truly a career day for Mazarei, who entered the game averaging 9.4 pts per game and whose previous career best point total was 21, scored earlier this week against Oxnard. It's also (unofficially) a career-best for assists.
Also for Moorpark, Meza had another strong game with 25 pts, and Antoine had 15 pts on 6-for-6 from the floor plus a team-high 9 rebs. Overall, Moorpark shot 64% from the floor for the game; remarkably, the Raiders shot .643 in the first half and .640 in the second half.
For Hancock, SF Darion Capers led the way with 22 pts and a game-high 10 rebs for the double-double. PF Jordan Dina had 19 pts and Ctr Sean Kelly had 17 and 7 rebs.
The win keeps Moorpark a half-game ahead of third-place Pierce in the WSC-North race, and the Raiders finish the regular season Wednesday at first-place Cuesta.
box score
Saturday, February 13, 2010 - 3 pm
at the Raider Pavilion, Moorpark College
WSC-North
Allan Hancock Bulldogs 73:
3-Danny Lopez, PG - 1 pf, 0 pts
11-Kenny Grant, SG - 1/5 fg, 1/3 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 pts
15-Darion Capers, SF - 7/12 fg, 5/7 ft, 10 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 22 pts
23-Jordan Dina, PF - 7/22 fg, 3/4 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 19 pts
31-Sean Kelly, C - 7/10 fg, 3/7 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 17 pts
12-Joey Araujo, G - 0/1 fg, 4 ast, 4 pf, 0 pts
2-Rich Easton, G - 1/6 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 4 pts
22-Emmanuel Lubanzadio, F - 1/2 fg, 1 ast, 1 pf, 2 pts
10-Chris Dugan, G - 0/5 fg, 4 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 0 pts
55-Keith Bowman, C - 1/2 fg, 1/1 ft, 3 pts
24-Jacob Walters, F - 1/2 fg, 2 reb, 1 pf, 3 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 26/67 fg (.388), 15/24 ft (.625), 34 reb, 17 ast, 2 blk, 6 stl, 17 pf, 73 pts
3-pt fg (6): Capers 3, Dina 2, Walters
Technical Foul: Bench (Asst Coach)
Turnovers (19): Capers 6, Dugan 4, Lopez 2, Grant 2, Dina 2, Araujo 2, Kelly
Moorpark Raiders 99:
1-Matt Mazarei, PG - 13/17 fg, 9/11 ft, 1 reb, 8 ast, 1 pf, 40 pts
3-Kyle Olandt, SG - 1/3 fg, 4 reb, 3 ast, 2 pf, 3 pts
4-Mike Meza, C - 8/14 fg, 8/8 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 25 pts
22-Ryan Islas, PF - 2/3 fg, 1/2 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 5 pf, 5 pts
32-Wendell Antoine, SF - 6/6 fg, 3/4 ft, 9 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 15 pts
20-Eric Strangis, F - 3/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 8 pts
5-Billy Corcoran, F - 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
2-Brian Sanchez, G - 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 0 pts
10-Spencer Schulte, F - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 0 pts
11-Jerald Dickson, G - 1/2 fg, 2 reb, 3 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 34/53 fg (.642), 22/27 ft (.815), 37 reb, 26 ast, 0 blk, 8 stl, 21 pf, 99 pts
3-pt fg (9): Mazarei 5, Olandt, Meza, Strangis, Dickson
Fouled Out: Islas 28.3 seconds left
Turnovers (21): Antoine 8, Strangis 3, Corcoran 3, Mazarei 2, Sanchez 2, Olandt, Meza, Islas
Halftime Score: Moorpark 49, Allan Hancock 38
Updated Records: Moorpark (#14-South) 16-9 overall, 8-3 in WSC-North; Allan Hancock 2-22 overall, 0-10 in WSC-North
Mazarei had 29 pts in the 1st half, including a half-court shot at the buzzer
