Valley Plays a Matchless Game Against Santa Monica : College basketball: Monarchs post 82-57 win to stay undefeated in divisional play.

With Valley College playing its matchup zone to near-perfection, the Monarchs’ game against visiting Santa Monica on Wednesday night was virtually no match.

Valley drubbed Santa Monica, 82-57, in a key men’s Western State Conference Southern Division basketball game.

In beating Santa Monica, ranked 17th in the state, Valley (16-10) completed the first half of division play with a 5-0 record and put itself a game ahead of second-place Canyons (Saturday’s opponent) heading into the second round.

Valley’s amoeba-like matchup defense turned the paint into a no-parking zone and held Santa Monica to nearly 30 points below its scoring average.

“I think we’re doing a great job defensively,” Valley Coach Jim Stephens said. “The kids have caught on to the zone. It’s been a real great asset for us.”

On offense, the Valley shooters also were in a zone--the comfort zone.

Valley guard Rick Garrick made six consecutive three-point attempts in the first half and finished with 23 points. When Santa Monica shifted its defensive emphasis to Garrick in the second half, guard-forward Tory Stephens came to the fore and finished with a game-high 24 points.

“Hey, we’ve got some shooters,” Stephens said. “It isn’t just Tory. We can score some points.”

Faced with the Valley zone in the first half, the Santa Monica ballhandlers had the beetle-browed look of concentration and confusion of someone trying to read the Serbo-Croatian translation of James Joyce.

Garrick’s 20 first-half points helped put Valley ahead, 37-31, at intermission, but Santa Monica (18-9, 3-2 in the Southern Division) bounced back to take a 42-41 lead with 16 minutes 45 seconds to play.

In the next 12 minutes, Valley regrouped and charged, outscoring Santa Monica, 30-9, to take a 71-51 lead.

Valley trashed Santa Monica so thoroughly, the final five minutes of the game were garbage time.

Art Kirksey of Valley punctuated the thrashing with a windmilling one-handed dunk shortly before the buzzer.

Both teams were missing key reserves. Jim Stephens reported that Setro Terzian quit the team Monday, and Andre Hewitt was a no-show for Santa Monica.

Earic Peters led Santa Monica with 15 points and Donald Smith scored 14.

Russell Baldwin added 12 points for Valley, and Nathan Hall had 10 points and eight assists.