On Saturday, Feb. 3, the Moorpark College men’s basketball team faced off against Western State Conference rival Pierce College.
In the season’s second and final head-to-head matchup, the Moorpark Raiders looked to claim their sixth conference victory. A win against LA Pierce would put the Raiders firmly into second place in the North division of the conference, a half-game behind first-place Allan Hancock.
The team would be without starting guard Jack Benyshek, thrusting freshman Jordan Torres into the starting five. Torres would be joined by fellow freshmen Avi Halpert and Kenji Cooper in the backcourt, with Chase Aronowitz and Jamaal Unuakalu rounding out the starting lineup.
The freshman, Torres, took quick advantage of his starting nod and scored the game’s first seven points, recording a steal in the process.
However, the Pierce squad did not lay idly by quickly tying the game up at nine within the first five minutes. As Moorpark’s staunch defense gained confidence, their offense also began to click.
Torres maintained his pace of play and tallied 13 points, alongside three rebounds, two assists and another pair of steals in the first 20 minutes. Torres spoke about his role as a starter for the team and his hot start to the game.
“I’m just glad that coach trusted me to replace one of our starting guys today. I guess I just gotta get out of my head; when I got in that groove, I was going,” Torres said.
The Raiders closed out an aggressive, high-paced first half up by 18 with a score of 52-34. This was the second consecutive game Moorpark entered the locker room with an 18-point lead.
Coming out of the intermission, the hot hand was now that of Halpert. Halpert put up 13 points for the home team in just five minutes of second-half game time. The Shalhevet graduate spoke about his mindset coming out of halftime.
“Just to not rush, I know it’s going to come to me eventually, so just don’t rush, let it come to me, and I’ll find it eventually,” Halpert said.
While patience is a crucial attribute of Moorpark’s basketball team, they show no lack of hustle and effort on defense. When watching the Moorpark men’s team play, one will routinely see Raiders players putting their bodies on the line and diving for loose balls.
Head Coach Keith Higgins takes pride in his team’s mindset and took a moment to praise their hustle.
“Well, we are not very tall, so we really got to be scrappy. I think that’s part of the success. It’s been like 20 years since we’ve had a team like this,” the third-year head coach said. “You can tell we’re just really scrappy, and it’s fun to watch. These are really good guys. It’s really good basketball, and I love watching them and coaching them.”
An emphatic alley-oop from Halpert to Cooper was the perfect capstone to another dominant performance from Moorpark. The game went final with a score of 99-78, extending the men’s win streak to three.
The Raiders will travel to Ventura College on Feb. 10 to improve their conference record against the Pirates with just four games left to play.
