HART TOURNAMENT : Cleveland Sends the ‘Lopes for a Loop

Behold the Cleveland and Antelope Valley high basketball teams, so similar in style, size, even in appearance--both donned black warm-up suits with red trim for their Hart tournament semifinal showdown Friday night.

Cleveland and Antelope Valley--the ‘Land and the ‘Lopes, as they like to be called--each topped the 100-point plateau in quarterfinal-round victories. Yes, a splendid game seemingly was guaranteed.

Well the line for refunds will be forming shortly. Appropriately, it should be a double line.

Cleveland doubled Antelope Valley’s point total, giving the ‘Lopes a 92-46 licking they surely won’t soon forget, and advanced to tonight’s championship game against Hart.

It started with a 26-9 first-quarter run, grew to a 49-21 halftime lead and mushroomed at one point in the fourth quarter to a 53-point advantage.

“They’re disappointed,” a tight-lipped Antelope Valley Coach Skip Adams said of his players. “And they’re embarrassed.”

Mission accomplished for the Cavaliers, many of whom took exception to Antelope Valley’s No. 1 ranking in the Valley by at least one publication. That made the Antelopes big game indeed.

“I don’t like them being (ranked) ahead of us,” said guard Eddie Hill, who scored a game-high 19 points despite sitting out the fourth quarter. “Nobody on our team did.”

For Cleveland (9-4), the game simply was a case of applying some big Ds.

Defense: From the opening tip-off, the Cavaliers pressed the Antelopes right out of their pants, forcing several turnovers, including a backcourt violation, while holding Antelope Valley to a season-low point total.

Depth: Cleveland’s bench outscored Antelope Valley’s, 34-9, with 11 players in the scoring column to Antelope Valley’s seven. Starters Bobby McRae (11 points), Brandon Martin (14), Andre Chevalier (12) and Hill, as well as reserves Patrick McCook (14) and Kenny Collins (10), scored in double figures.

Forward Chris Walters, who scored a career-high 36 in a 103-93 win over St. Francis on Thursday, led Antelope Valley with 18 points, but no other Antelope player scored more than eight.

Moreover, Cleveland’s reserves outscored the ‘Lopes’ starting five, 18-16, in the fourth quarter.

“It was nice to be able to sub guys because we were tired,” Cleveland Coach Marc Paez said. “It makes our starters better and it makes our team better.

“I’m surprised (at the lopsided outcome). I saw AV yesterday and I thought I was watching Loyola Marymount. If we played them again tomorrow, it might be a different story.”

Perhaps, then, Cleveland’s most telling D was Desire.

“I know we wanted it,” Hill said. “I don’t know how much they wanted it, but I know we wanted it a lot.”

In other tournament games:

Hart 77, Rio Mesa 66--Four Hart players scored in double figures to offset Rio Mesa forward Eric Thomas’ game-high 24-point performance and lead the Indians into tonight’s championship game.

Junior forward Marty Downen led the Indians (11-2) with 22 points. Guard Micah Ohlman, who made two of Hart’s four three-point baskets, and forward Renato Rivas each scored 14 points.

Center Chad Fotheringham scored 10 points for the Indians.

Senior forward Eric Dyer scored 14 points for Rio Mesa (6-6).

Canyon 55, Crescenta Valley 46--Canyon broke a scoreless halftime tie to advance to the consolation championship against Palmdale.

Forwards Jermaine Nixon (18 points) and Jon Civita (15) led the Cowboys (9-3). Civita made seven of seven free throws in the fourth quarter as Canyon outscored the Falcons, 19-13.

Palmdale 53, Calabasas 38--Junior forward Chris DeGlopper and junior center Jason Grimes each scored 11 points to lead Palmdale (7-6) in a consolation semifinal. Jim Friedlander scored 15 points to lead Calabasas.

East Bakersfield 73, Saugus 63--Greg Yumbar and Aaron Volpe each scored 16 points for Saugus, but it wasn’t enough in a fifth-place semifinal. Yumbar had 17 rebounds for Saugus (3-7).

Beverly Hills 99, St. Francis 81--Kyle Barrett led St. Francis with 24 points in a fifth-place semifinal.