Moorpark College’s men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker, 102-97 to the Bulldogs of Allan Hancock College this past Saturday. Moorpark played hard but in the end it wasn’t enough.

Moorpark went into overtime tied up 86 all due to a clutch shot by Matt Willkomm of Allan Hancock. Allan Hancock came out strong in overtime scoring the first couple of points but Moorpark answered back by tightening up their defense and driving to the rim and getting to the line. In the end it wasn’t enough as the Raiders were outscored 16-11 in overtime.

“Control turnovers,” said Moorpark’s head coach Gerred Link, “Make free throws, can’t go 3 for 11 in the last couple of minutes.”

Moorpark came out very passive in the first couple of minutes of the 1st half until Link then called a timeout to settle his team down; Moorpark then went on a 10-0 run. Midway through the 1st half Moorpark led 25-20; they controlled the tempo of the game and played excellent defense which led to many transition buckets. Moorpark was getting any shot they wanted as they would drive to the rim and either score on a layup or kick it out for an open shot. Moorpark went into the half leading 47-38 behind Moorpark’s guard Larry Bush’s 16 points, Joshua Brooks spectacular penetration to the rim; and Austin Howell’s aggressive rebounding.

In the second half, the Raiders came out the same way they started the first half; with Allan Hancock outscoring them in the first couple of minutes and chipping away Moorpark’s lead. The Raiders had their own scoring run as they distanced themselves a bit with a score of 59-46; but the Allan Hancock Bulldogs would not go away as the kept fighting back. Kadeem Minor and Andre Miller of the Bulldogs kept hitting shots at the right time as they cut the Raiders lead to only three. The Raiders had chances to put the game away but missed free throws and allowing offensive rebounds ended up costing the Raiders in the end. The game went into overtime, where the Raiders fell short of a victory.

“We had a lull in the second half just trying to rebound the boards,” said coach Link.

As players walked by after the loss coach Link stopped each one of them, and said to them. “Keep your head up.”

Moorpark played a strong game but couldn’t finish in the end. Larry Bush scored 29 points and Joshua Brooks scored 19 to lead the Raiders.

“We’re right were we’re supposed to be we just haven’t gotten over the hump,” said Link. “We’re right there, we just gotta go through to get over the hump.”

Moorpark falls to 3-4 in WSC play and will play L.A. Pierce College on Feb 4 at 5 p.m. at L.A. Pierce College.