Canyons Wins 3rd Straight

Before College of the Canyons’ showdown Friday night against conference co-leader Trade Tech, the Cougars had to dispose of West Los Angeles.

Wednesday night on its home floor, Canyons did just that, coming back after an awkward first half to win its third straight Mountain Valley Conference game, 92-81, over the Oilers.

West L. A. played even with Canyons for the first period and trailed, 37-36, at the half. But Canyons, usually not a team to sit around and wait for good things to happen, jumped all over the Oilers at the outset of the second half, outscoring them, 14-4, in the first six minutes.

Canyons (3-0 in conference, 14-7 overall) had a tough time getting the ball into the hoop early in the game.

“I thought they would fall if we would just take our time shooting,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “We were rushing our shots earlier, and after we settled down they started to drop.”

Like anvils. The Cougars scored 55 second-half points.

Sophomore Vincent Ray, Canyons’ surprise savior this season, scored 22 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, which kept West L. A. (0-3, 6-17) in check. James Mixon scored 26 points for the Cougars and teammate Derek Hughes had 14 assists to tie his own school record.

The Oilers’ La Var Ball, a freshman from Canoga Park High, scored all but two of his team-high 20 points in the second half.

Doug Aitken also had a fine second half for the Cougars--on offense and defense. The 6-4 forward came off the bench and scored nine points and forced four turnovers.

“I was real pleased with Doug tonight,” Smelser said. “It was great to see him contribute--diving for balls, wrestling for loose balls on the floor, getting rebounds.”

Also getting a few rebounds was Anthony Hines, Canyons’ 17-year-old starting center.

Hines scored 15 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

“He’s just a baby compared to the rest of these guys. Just a youngster,” Smelser said of Hines. “But he’s a great learner. We didn’t throw the ball into him that much earlier this season because we were riding on Vinnie and James Mixon. But now, Anthony is coming around and we expect him to take a little of the burden off Ray and Mixon.”

Canyons will have its work cut out for it when it travels to Trade Tech on Friday. Trade Tech’s Mike Brown is the No. 9 scorer in the state.

Said Smelser: “I understand that he is just a sensational player. We’ll have to stop him.”

Trade Tech will have to do some stopping of its own--Ray is the No. 10 scorer in the state. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.