Without Its Kingpin, Valley Falls : Loss of Elrington Clearly Felt as Cuesta Wins, 71-59

It wasn’t long before the loss of injured center Oral Elrington showed its effect on Valley College on Tuesday.

The first time the Monarchs went up for a rebound--and came down without the ball--they realized how much they missed Elrington.

Cuesta College took advantage of the depleted Valley lineup and defeated the Monarchs, 71-59, in the consolation semifinals of the Valley tournament. The loss bumped Valley from the double-elimination tournament.

Valley (3-12) had dropped into the consolation bracket after being defeated by Southwestern, 62-61, in a first-round game Monday.

Elrington, a 6-foot, 6-inch freshman and Valley’s tallest player, tore ligaments in the ring finger on his left hand four minutes into the second half of Monday’s game. He is not expected to rejoin the lineup until next week.

Valley Coach Jim Stephens believes that losing Elrington cost the Monarchs the game against Southwestern.

“We would have won that game if he hadn’t been hurt,” Stephens said. “Without him, that’s 15 points and 15 rebounds we lose. He’s our best inside player, our cement.”

With Elrington sidelined, Valley turned to forward Steve Ward to assume more of the scoring burden Tuesday. He answered with a game-high 29 points, but it wasn’t enough.

“Ward is our best outside shooter, but he was only about 60% because of a real bad ankle,” Stephens said.

Valley stayed close before tying Cuesta, 30-30, on Ward’s two free throws with 50 seconds remaining in the first half. Cuesta scored two quick baskets for a 35-32 halftime lead it never relinquished.

While padding its advantage in the second half, Cuesta (6-6) slowed Valley’s offense and held the Monarchs to just 27 points. Valley did not score a field goal for the first 3:25 of the half before Ward connected on a jumper. Ward scored Valley’s first six points in the second half.

Cuesta, which lost a first-round game against El Camino, 81-56, advanced to tonight’s consolation championship.

Cuesta Coach Don Hansen shuffled his lineup after Monday’s game and added three new starters to join forward Benjamin Pitts and guard Darrin Shaw.

“There were only two kids in there tonight who had been starting,” Hansen said. “These kids played better than the group that we have been starting. We had to find out which players could help us the most.”

Shaw led Cuesta with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and David Weiss scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Monarchs.