Lide Energizes Antelope Valley in Tournament Win Over Palomar

Skinny as an exclamation point, Antelope Valley College’s LeVan Lide plays like one too.

A first-round game of the Antelope Valley tournament against winless Palomar would have been easy for Antelope Valley to slide through on cruise control, but that was not going to happen with Lide at the throttle.

Playing with his own brand of hyperkinetic energy, the 6-foot-1, 150-pound Lide had 23 points, nine assists, nine steals and four rebounds to lead Antelope Valley to a 99-73 victory Wednesday night.

Antelope Valley Coach Newton Chelette was reluctant to give Lide all of the credit for firing up the team but did say: “His aggressive play, somehow it’s catchy and filters down through the guys on the floor.”

With starter Demetrious Phillips on the sidelines because of a sprained right ankle, Lide came onto the floor like a shot.

“I was too hyper,” Lide said. “Maybe because Demetrious wasn’t there. I just feel like I have to pick up the scoring slack, pick up defensive slack.”

Lide, a mercurial freshman guard out of Las Vegas, combined with fellow guard Bryan Wilcox in limiting Palomar’s starting guards to four points.

Antelope Valley has not won its own tournament since 1968, and Lide said: “You’ve got to keep the team up. We plan on taking it this year.”

After building a surprisingly small 51-37 first-half lead, Antelope Valley (4-1) blew the game open with a 17-4 run in the first six minutes of the second half.

Lide combined with Tony Madison on a nine-point Antelope Valley run that increased the lead to 82-50 with 10 minutes to play.

With his team leading, 89-52, with slightly less than eight minutes remaining, Chelette cleared the bench.

Several missed layups helped keep Antelope Valley under 100 points.

Madison struggled through a seven-for-23 performance from the field but finished with 25 points and five assists. Wilcox, Ennis Wesley, Gerald Haynes and Billy Lucas each scored nine points.

Antelope Valley will play Canyons at 7 tonight.

In other tournament games:

Canyons 79, Golden West 70--Canyons lost an 18-point second-half lead but bounced back to outscore Golden West, 12-3, in the final two minutes and preserve the victory.

Canyons (2-2) led, 50-32, after Nick Sanderson hit a three-point basket early in the second half.

Riverside 75, Glendale 73--A game-ending desperation shot by Glendale’s Doug Castaneda was off the mark.

Enoch Mack led Glendale (3-3) with 16 points.