MARAUDER MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM ENDS REGULAR SEASON UNDEFEATED AT HOME WITH 82-71 VICTORY OVER SANTA MONICA

Photo by David Nurse

LANCASTER - For the first time ever the Marauder men's basketball finished the regular season undefeated at home with a second half come-from-behind victory over visiting Santa Monica College, Wednesday night at Marauder Gymnasium.

The Marauders, which are now 10-0 at home this season, moved into a second place tie with Citrus and Glendale, which lost in overtime to the Owls. AVC, which boasted its playoff resume with back-to-back wins against Bakersfield and the Corsairs, has one game remaining this Saturday on the road against College of the Canyons, which hasn't won a conference game all season.

"This was a huge win for us. Us staying undefeated at home, finishing the regular season and heading into the playoffs is big for us," AVC's Joseph Moorer said. "Back to back wins for us against Bakersfield and Santa Monica is huge. In the beginning of the season we used to play to the level of the competition, but now we're coming out with a lot of energy. Against COC we want to go in and punish them and put them away."

Moorer finished with 16 points and the Marauders were led by Brandon Wade, who finished with 18 points. Izayah Doyle came off the bench to finish with 12 points and several hustle plays.

The Marauders trailed most of the entire game and only led just over five minutes of the game. With the score tied 67-67, Moorer calmly netted a 3-pointer at the top of the key giving AVC the lead 70-67 with 2:30 remaining in the second half.

A bucket by Gregory Wesley extended AVC's lead to 72-67. Later in the half, with the shot clock winding down, Wade hit a high arching 3-point shot giving the Marauders a 75-68 lead.

AVC, which was 10-of-18 from 3-point range, trailed 43-40 at halftime. The Marauders outscored the Corsairs 42-28 in the second half.