Clark Scores 37 to Help Canyons Rout Favored Moorpark, 108-87

Aaron Clark, Canyons’ 6-foot-3 off guard-turned-center, displayed a split personality Wednesday night at Moorpark.

Clark was Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside as he scored 37 points with a combination of power moves in the lane and outside sharpshooting, including three three-point baskets.

Rather than exorcising this offensive demon, though, Moorpark endured an exercise in futility, falling to Canyons, 108-87, in a Western State Conference game.

Canyons (10-14, 3-4 in conference play), one of the highest-scoring teams in the state, rocketed to a 52-41 halftime lead and rode home on the shoulders of Clark, who scored 20 second-half points.

“I was hitting everything from inside to outside,” said Clark, who recently was moved to center.

“He really played well for an off-guard,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said of Clark.

Moorpark point guard Sam Crawford literally drew “aahs” with a spinning reverse layup early in the second half, but his 23 points and 10 assists went for naught.

“We didn’t play well tonight, just had a concentration problem,” Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist said. “As things went on, we began to press individually.”

Greg Taylor led Moorpark (16-7, 4-2) with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Three other Canyons players joined Clark in double figures.

Larry Allbritton scored 23 points and added 10 rebounds.

Nick Sanderson and Steve Valenzuela scored 18 and 16, respectively.

Moorpark was coming off an impressive 17-point victory over Glendale and is heading into a game Saturday against conference leader Valley.