JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Valley Turns to Its Defense in Win Over Golden West

See Valley College run. See Valley shoot. See Valley pass.

See Valley play defense?

All that offensive flash, and the Monarchs can play defense too.

At least they did Thursday night in the Antelope Valley College basketball tournament, defeating defending champion Golden West, 65-62, in a second-round game.

Valley (4-2), which scored a tournament-record 125 points in Wednesday’s win over East Los Angeles, will meet Harbor today at 5:45 p.m. in the championship semifinals.

The defensive-minded Monarches, who led, 33-28, at halftime, held the Rustlers to 29% field-goal shooting in the second half and 36% for the game.

Valley took the lead for good, 55-53, on Steve Ward’s layup with a little more than five minutes to play. Golden West (6-2) stayed close, but the Monarchs pulled out to a 63-58 advantage on Shelton Boykin’s layup and clinched it when reserve guard Rick Garrick made two free throws with 24 seconds left, giving Valley a 65-61 lead.

“The kids are down; they want points. But we won this game because of our defense,” Valley Coach Jim Stephens said. “We’re not going to be able to run all the time. We’re going to have to slow it down and be patient sometimes.”

Boykin led Valley with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Steve Ward (13 points) and Andre Harrell (10) also scored in double digits for the Monarchs.