Foul Shots Spark Win for Canyons : Cougars on Target in Tournament Victory While Valley Misfires

It was a chance to get acquainted. An opportunity to check what the other team has.

The men’s basketball teams from College of the Canyons and Valley, which will meet twice more during the Western State Conference season, squared off Friday night in the semifinals of the 8-team Vaquero Classic at Glendale College. And it eventually became obvious that what Valley has is one big problem at the free-throw line.

The Monarchs missed 17 free throws, many on the front end of 1-and-1 situations, and lost to Canyons, 102-95.

Canyons will meet Glendale, a 72-69 winner Friday over East Los Angeles, in the championship game at 7 tonight.

Valley meets East L.A. in the third-place game at 5.

“How many free throws did we miss?” Valley Coach Jim Stephens asked. “We make them, we win easy.”

Valley made just 23 of 40 from the foul line.

Meanwhile, Canyons made 20 of 27 free throws, including 3 down the stretch by forward Aaron Clark, who had 30 points, and 2 by guard Larry Allbritton to ice the game.

It was third time this season that Canyons has scored more than 100 points, and the Cougars’ success at the line surprised Coach Lee Smelser.

“Our free-throw shooting has been anything but desirable,” said Smelser, whose team improved to 9-5.

Canyons held a 48-41 halftime advantage as Clark led the way with 12 points.

Valley (4-5) was just 9 of 20 from the free-throw line in the first half, offsetting the performance of Monarch center Oral Elrington, who kept Valley in the game with 13 of his game-high 31 points.

Elrington, however, fouled out with 3:50 left in the second half and Canyons ahead, 85-83.

Canyons pulled ahead by 4 points several times before Valley guard Tory Stephens hit a jump shot to pull the Monarchs to within 97-95.

Clark, however, made a free throw, Justin Scott hit a jump shot and Allbritton added 2 free throws--all in the last minute.

Clark was one of 6 Canyons players to score in double figures, including guard Steve Valenzuela, who came off the bench to score 17 points, sparking the Cougar offense for the second night in a row.

Glendale (6-4) held off a furious second-half rally to gain a victory for the second night in a row.

The Vaqueros led, 35-29, at halftime and seemed to have the game in hand. But the Huskies came back to within 71-69 on a basket by David Pettie with 16 seconds left.

Glendale’s Bruce Heicke secured the win with 2 free throws in the last 13 seconds.