The Oxnard College men’s basketball team had no problem facing Allan Hancock College, cruising to a 77-61 victory Wednesday night at the Condor Center.
The first half saw a back-and-forth battle. The Condors were able to gain the lead with three consecutive three-pointers near the end of the half to take a close 35-32 halftime lead.
The Condors (12-11, 4-3 Western State Conference) started the second half with an alley-op that received a cheer from the crowd. Shortly after, however, mental mistakes created some costly turnovers that resulted in points for the Bulldogs (2-20, 0-7).
The Condors took back control, and started hitting shots from the outside. With five minutes left in the second half, the Condors had built a 22-point lead and they would use that lead to seal a 21-point win.
Condors head coach Jason Cunningham believes his team’s victory was because of the emergence of their jump shot.
“The biggest thing is we shot well,” he said. “We haven’t been shooting well from the three in a while. I think we hit 12 threes tonight.”
The Condors lived and died by the three, and used it as a weapon to get away from what would have otherwise been a close game.
The Condors’ fast break attack was also effective in the second half, as they seem to always have one more man on the offensive end than the Bulldogs had on defense.
Cunningham said he hopes his team can continue shooting well from behind the three-point line in the next couple of games.
Cunningham believed his team’s halftime adjustments in their defense helped the Condors match up against the Bulldogs better.
“In the first half we tried to go zone against them, we weren’t particular playing zone too well, they were getting shots, getting offensive rebounds, getting put backs and started giving us a little bit of trouble,” he said.
“So when we went into the second half, we figured that we won’t probably come back to play man and play coverage a little more.”