Elrington Heeds Call for Valley : Sophomore Center Ignores Taunts, Sparks 76-59 Win

Oral Elrington is accustomed to being harassed under the basket, but being called “ugly” is something new for the sophomore center at Valley College.

Name-calling aside, Elrington scored a game-high 27 points to lead Valley to a 76-59 victory over Compton in the first round of the Vaquero Classic at Glendale College on Wednesday night.

“They just tried to scare me in the beginning by saying, ‘You’re ugly and weak,’ ” Elrington said. “I just laughed it off.”

The Tartars were not laughing, however, at their inability to defend Elrington, Valley’s second-leading scorer with a 20.7-point average.

“This was his best effort,” Valley Coach Jim Stephens said of Elrington. “He has played like this a lot this season, but usually he’s not around very long because he is always in foul trouble.”

Valley (5-4) will play the winner of tonight’s College of the Canyons-Columbia Basin (Pasco, Wash.) game in the second round Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Four players scored in double figures for the Monarchs, who were never threatened in the second half. Forward Sean Williams added 12, Tory Stephens scored 11 and Joey Manliguis had 10.

Jerry Morgan, who averages 20.8 points a game to lead Compton (10-5), scored a team-high 17 points. Andre Stovall added 16 points for the Tartars.

Despite Elrington’s dominance, Compton jumped ahead early on the strength of its 3-point shooting. But after Stephens switched defenses from zone to man-to-man with 6 minutes remaining in the first half, the Tartars were silenced in their perimeter attack.

“I have been disappointed in our man-to-man defense up to now, so I started off with a zone,” Stephens said. “I did not think we could match up physically with them.”

Elrington’s 13 points in the first half kept Valley close after Compton assumed an early lead. The Monarchs stayed close and finally went ahead, 32-31, on Williams’ slam dunk with 1:50 remaining in the half.

Williams scored 5 of Valley’s last 7 points in the half to give the Monarchs a 36-33 lead. Valley outscored Compton, 18-8, in the last 7:29 of the half to overtake the persistent Tartars.

In another first-round game Wednesday, East Los Angeles defeated Antelope Valley, 82-77. East L.A. plays the winner of tonight’s Glendale-Grays Harbor (Wash.) game Friday.

The championship game is at 7 p.m. Saturday.