When Sean Doyle first came to Moorpark...

When Sean Doyle first came to Moorpark College to play basketball in 1989, Coach Al Nordquist said that he had the credentials of a “very average high school player.”

Doyle, who played at Newbury Park High, spent his first year at Moorpark as a redshirt player, trying to develop his game.

The work has paid off. Last season he received honorable mention All-Western State Conference honors and Moorpark reached the Southern California regional playoffs.

This season, the 6-foot-7, 205-pound sophomore has become a force underneath the basket and boasts averages of 11.6 points and 10.4 rebounds. Doyle, who is shooting 61% from the field, had 17 points and 17 rebounds in a 64-63 win over Glendale on Saturday.

“We spent a lot of time working on his shot,” Nordquist said. “He went from being someone who people would consider a marginal player to a Division I prospect.”

Canyons center Jason Joynes ranked 25th in the WSC in scoring (10.9 points a game) and 17th in rebounding (5.6) heading into Wednesday night’s conference game against Ventura, but the 6-foot-9 freshman from Adelaide, Australia, will be even more of a force to contend with as the season progresses.

Joynes scored a season-high 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Canyons’ 95-92 double-overtime victory over Oxnard on Saturday.

“He’s got some nice moves for a man his size,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said of the 260-pound Joynes. “And he’s starting to get some explosion in his legs off the floor. He didn’t have that earlier this season, but he’s starting to get it now.”

Brooklyn McLinn has been Cal State Northridge’s hottest three-point shooter the past six games, making half of his 20 attempts. The success comes despite his rather unsettled role.

McLinn was averaging about 15 minutes of playing time a game before getting only one minute in Northridge’s 78-72 win over Eastern Washington on Dec. 28.

But then, as fast as McLinn vanished, he reappeared against St. Mary’s. In his first start of the season, McLinn scored 14 points in 17 minutes on five-of-six shooting, including four three-point baskets.

“I just feel like when I’m given the opportunity to play I’m gonna perform admirably,” McLinn said. “Coaches make decisions . . . I’m always gonna be ready whether I play 10 seconds one game and 20 minutes the next.”

Since the St. Mary’s game, McLinn has played 14 minutes against Stanford and 21 against Fort Lewis.

Point guard Andre Chevalier, the Northridge team leader in field-goal shooting percentage (53%) and free-throw shooting percentage (87%), has increased his shots-per-game total from 4.6 to 7.3 in the last four games and has scored 55 points, increasing his scoring average to 8.8.

Chevalier has tried to hone his jump shot with the help of assistant Jerry Carrillo. “He has been working with me and telling me to look for my shot, which has boosted my confidence,” Chevalier said.

Northridge freshman Ryan Martin, supposedly the team’s most prolific three-point shooter, is struggling. He has missed 18 of his past 22 shots from three-point range.

Martin, a starter the first 10 games, has lost playing time since being given a reserve role. He played just six minutes in the 83-81 win over Fort Lewis on Tuesday.

Although Shelton Boykin is a 47% shooter at the foul line, Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy had no fear that he would miss the two free throws that tied the score against Fort Lewis with 50 seconds left.

“When something is on the line with Shelton . . . when he wants to, he comes through,” Cassidy said.

If any player on The Master’s needed to step up and play better, it was not Jason Webster.

But the 6-foot-4 forward made that stride anyway, scoring 20 points in back-to-back games to lead Master’s to victories over Western Washington and Ambassador.

Webster leads the team, as he has all season, in scoring (14.4) and rebounding (5.4).

Jeff deLaveaga, Cal Lutheran’s senior guard, has been near the top in NCAA Division III scoring although his team (3-7 entering play Wednesday) has been sliding.

As of Dec. 29, when deLaveaga was averaging 29.4 points a game, he was second among Division III players in scoring to only John Daileanes of Colby College (Maine), who was averaging 30.7 points.

Since then, deLaveaga has increased his average to 31.2.

Women’s basketball: Shagarro Lattin, a Cal State Northridge forward, is making the most of her senior season.

After averaging only 3.3 points last season, the 5-9 transfer from Valley College leads the Matadors in both scoring (8.8) and rebounding (5.3). She has started 12 of 16 games.

Roz Linton, a 6-foot Northridge junior, recorded season-high totals of 10 points and 16 rebounds in a 107-47 loss to UCLA on Dec. 29, a performance that earned her the starting center position.

Antelope Valley sophomore forward Paula Page, an All-Foothill Conference selection last season, once again is putting up impressive numbers.

The 6-1 Page, a former All-Southern Section player at Quartz Hill High, leads the team in scoring (23.3 average) and rebounding (12.2). She is shooting 59% from the field and 80% from the foul line.

Page needs 60 points to break the Antelope Valley career scoring record of 849 points, established by Kim Fairchild from 1986-88.

The Marauders (11-6) have four players averaging at least 10.9 points, including freshman guard Charley Johnson--also a Quartz Hill product--who is averaging 15.8 points, 4.2 assists and 2.9 steals.

Antelope Valley entered Wednesday’s Foothill Conference opener against Chaffey with 10 more victories than it had a year ago when the Marauders took a 1-7 record into conference action.