Higgins, Mills Turn Showdown Into Their Own Showtime

In a sweltering Valley College gymnasium Saturday night, where air conditioning was a foreign word, the Mid-Valley all-stars and three other American Roundball Corp. teams underwent final preparations for the UCLA national tournament, which begins Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion.

Valley College was supposed to be the site of a hot showdown between the ARC’s two best teams and between Mid-Valley’s 6-9 Don MacLean and Ventura County’s 6-8 Gary Gray, “the two best big men in the Valley,” according to ARC President Rich Goldberg, an assistant coach for Mid-Valley.

The game’s pace--fast and furious--didn’t defer to the heat, but the expected showdowns never materialized.

The MacLean-Gray showdown took a back seat to the artistry of Mid-Valley’s Sean Higgins and Chris Mills, Fairfax High teammates who helped snatch the show and turned the game into a rout.

Rebounding from its only loss of the summer league season--to Philadelphia’s Sonny Hill all-stars last week--Mid-Valley ran its record to 17-1 with a 112-79 win over Ventura County (13-4).

Showdown turned into showtime after halftime even though Mid-Valley was without three of its players, all of whom were at other summer league games. Serra’s James Moses and Darvin Jackson, and Darrick Martin of St. Anthony did not play.

Higgins (6-8) and Mills (6-7) took over, turning a 56-45 Mid-Valley halftime lead into a blowout, with a little help from Taft High’s Kevin Franklin.

If it wasn’t Franklin throwing a behind-the-back pass to Higgins for an easy layup, it was Mills throwing down a two-hand reverse slam.

And if it wasn’t Mills throwing down a reverse slam, then Higgins was. Mills finished with 33 points and Higgins had 31.

Higgins and Mills spoke of pleasing the crowd.

“Once I get a breakaway, I’ve got to give the crowd something,” Mills said. “That’s what the guy in the stands said: ‘That’s what we came to see.’ ”

“I wouldn’t say we stole the show,” Higgins said. “Everybody was in the flow.”

Mid-Valley, the defending national champion of a Las Vegas invitational tournament that follows the 26-team UCLA tournament, will be seeded No. 1 on Tuesday.

Mid-Valley coach Pat Barrett, who saw this team finish third in last year’s UCLA tournament, said the team looked good but is only “75% ready.”

“We played very, very well,” Barrett said. “Chris is one of the best juniors in the nation and Sean is one of the best seniors.”

In an earlier game Saturday night, ARC Los Angeles defeated ARC San Fernando, 70-65.