DUO TURNS GAME INTO FAMILY AFFAIR.

Byline: Bryan Winchell Special to the Daily News

On the basketball court, there's not much that separates Tim and Wendell Nunnery. Besides their physical differences, the two are nearly identical in their love for shooting the ball.

But put the Nunnery cousins in a nonbasketball environment and the two seem as different as a slam dunk and a soft jump shot.

"I don't like to say much," said Tim, who is leading Moorpark College with 18.6 points per game on 34 percent three-point shooting. "I see how others are so loud and obnoxious so I've always been quiet and to myself."

Said Wendell: "I like to talk to liven things up. It gets the guys going and we play better then."

First-year Moorpark coach Del Parker certainly notes the irony: "They're similar in the fact that they both can score, but different in every other way."

For Parker, it's the fact that the Nunnerys are such adept scorers that makes them such valuable members of the Raiders (11-12, 2-0). When Moorpark needs a basket, it usually looks to one of the Nunnerys or center Brady Mertes.

"Right now, I'd say Tim is the better shooter," Wendell said. "But he knows who the better shooter is."

One example of the team turning to the Nunnerys was in last Saturday's Western State Conference game against Santa Barbara. Moorpark trailed 35-18 at halftime, but got 20 points from Tim after the break to come back to trail the Vaqueros by one point with five seconds left.

Parker told the team to get the ball to Tim. They did and Nunnery, with his defender in his face, threw up a desperation 23-foot shot as the buzzer sounded.

"It didn't look like it was going in, but it hit nothing but net," Tim said. "It was a good feeling because everybody was telling me it was time to take over and I did." While Tim was celebrating, Wendell was looking for the nearest bed. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound forward got the flu last Sunday and took a week to recover.

The illness certainly hasn't helped him feel very confident about his play.

"Right now, I'm kind of down on my play," said Wendell, who is averaging 14.4 points per game on 32 percent three-point shooting. "It's been hard getting over the flu. My defense is real sluggish and I've been rushing my shots on offense."

Wendell hopes he can return to the kind of play that caused him to score 26 points, grab 13 rebounds and make five steals in a late November tournament game against College of the Sequoias.

While the Nunnerys are helping to keep Moorpark at the top of the Western State Conference standings, it wasn't long ago that the two were on the other side of the court from the Raiders.

Both were recruited to play for Oxnard College for then-head coach Remy McCarthy in 1993. When the two went to play for Oxnard, though, McCarthy had moved over to be an assistant at Moorpark.

The Nunnerys played in 1993, red-shirted in 1994 and then were contacted again by McCarthy. This time, of course, it was to come play for Moorpark.

They each had to complete classes in the spring and the summer to be academically eligible and after they did that, they were officially Raiders.

It's not like Moorpark is a stranger to the Nunnery family. Two years ago, Swanson Nunnery, Tim's brother, played defensive back for the football team.

"They knew our family name at Moorpark and they respected us," said Tim. "I liked the campus. Oxnard is pretty dead, there aren't many people there.

"And the girls are better looking (at Moorpark)," he added with a laugh.

Wendell noticed the difference in coaching philosophies at the two schools.

"(At Moorpark) the coaches have expectations so no matter what happens, we stick to our roles," Wendell said. "At Oxnard, it was just like go out and play. There's more team unity at Moorpark."

After this year ends, the Nunnerys may move on in the college ranks. Tim has been offered a half scholarship for two years by UC Riverside and by Fort Hays State in Kansas.

He'd like to go to Riverside because he has friends on the team, but Kansas is appealing because its remoteness fits his quiet personality.

And Wendell has received interest from Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State Hayward, but has yet to really consider his options.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo (1) Cousins Tim, left, and Wendell Nunnery, both love basketball and can be counted on to help their Moorpark College team keep on winning. Evan Yee/Daily News (2) Tim Nunnery 18.6 points per game (3) Wendell Nunnery Plays, talks a good game