Canyons Beats Oxnard for 3rd Win in a Row

Chalk up another win for the revamped College of the Canyons lineup.

Canyons reeled off its third consecutive Western State Conference victory since moving 6-foot-3 sophomore Aaron Clark from guard to center, emerging with a 72-64 win over Oxnard on Saturday night at Canyons.

Freshman guard Nick Sanderson led Canyons (11-14, 4-4 in conference play) with 21 points and Steve Valenzuela added 17.

“(Clark) adds a new dimension to our game at center,” said Canyons Coach Lee Smelser, whose team started conference play 1-4. “He’s quick and a good outside shooter. It helps bring the opposing center outside and opens things up inside. It was originally a desperation move, but it turned out to be a good coaching decision.”

Sanderson is the leader in another area as well. The conference’s top free-throw shooter, Sanderson was eight of eight from the line as Canyons converted 20 of 23 free throws.

Canyons hit only one field-goal attempt in the final 8 minutes 36 seconds but sank seven of eight free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.

Canyons led at the half, 44-42, but went on a 10-4 run in a 4:12 span to start the second half and open an eight-point advantage.

The Cougars extended the lead to 11, 65-54, with 8:52 to play on Valenzuela’s reverse layup off a back-door pass from Chris Dyer.

Oxnard (12-11, 3-4) pulled to within six, at 70-64, but Sanderson sank a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Oxnard’s Randy Carter, who came into the game with a conference-leading 24.9-point scoring average, had 26 points and teammate Joe Daughrity contributed 15.

Larry Allbritton, Steve Kelly and Clark, scored 12, nine and seven points respectively.