Junior College BASKETBALL : Middleton Scores 30 in Valley’s 59-47 Victory

When Larry Middleton walked onto the basketball court at Culver City Veterans Memorial Auditorium Friday night, he was the leading scorer in the Mountain Valley Conference with a 26.7 average. The 6-2 sophomore showed why by hitting 14 of 18 shots--all but one from way out--and scoring 30 points to lead Valley College to a 59-47 win over West Los Angeles. West L.A. Coach Charles Sands called it “the best shooting night I have seen in the conference in 10 years.” Valley Coach Bobby Castagna, who saw his squad improve its record to 11-6, was impressed with the team as well as with Middleton. “Overall, we played well,” he said. “I was pleased. We played smart basketball. It was a very good team victory.” West L.A., which came in with a six-game losing streak, was able to keep the game close with its patient offense until Valley scored nine straight points to take a 23-14 lead with 8:20 left in the half. The Oilers closed to within three, 29-26, at the half. In the second half, Angelo Hudson sank two jumpers to close it to 36-34. Carey Lewis then hit a turnaround jumper and Middleton scored the next six Valley baskets to build the lead to 50-39 with five minutes to go. West L.A., which started four players who are 6-1 or shorter, tried to get back in the game by working the ball inside to Robert Bloom, a 6-6, 245-pound sophomore. Bloom was fouled twice and made all four free throws to cut the lead to 54-47 with 2:14 left. That was it for the Oilers, however, as they failed to score again. Valley, following Middleton’s example, hit 25 of 43 shots (58.1%). West L.A. made just 20 of 50 (40%). Valley also controlled the backboards, grabbing 32 rebounds to 23 for West L.A. The nine-rebound advantage was made up solely of defensive rebounds as WLAC missed 12 more shots than the Monarchs. Each team had just five offensive rebounds. Sophomore Glenn Boss was the only other Valley scorer in double figures. He finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting and had five rebounds. Middleton also led Valley in rebounding with six and added an assist and a steal. Erik Harden scored only three points, but had 11 assists. Bloom led West L.A. with 17 points, followed by Hudson with 12. Freshman guard Frank Lopez added 10 assists for the Oilers, who fell to 5-11 overall and 0-1 in league. Valley, 1-0 in the conference, was ranked No. 9 in the Southland coming into the game. The Monarchs will have a chance to move up next Friday when eighth-ranked Trade Tech visits Valley for a 7:30 p.m. game.