Quartz Hill Earns Golden Win to Move Into Spotlight

It was Parents Night at Quartz Hill High on Friday night, so before the game the gym was darkened and each player was introduced with his mom and dad, a spotlight shining on each family as it took the court.

The scene was foreshadowing. Quartz Hill then took the court and edged Palmdale in a thriller, 59-57, therefore dimming the lights on the Golden League race.

And afterward, the spotlight shone brightly on veteran Coach Don Moore, who announced his retirement Tuesday--effective at the end of the season. Quartz Hill clinched a share of the Golden League title with the win and moved its magic number to one for its first outright league title in school history.

“It ain’t gonna be no tie,” Moore said after coaching his final regular-season game at home.

Quartz Hill (18-4, 7-1 in league play) leads second-place Antelope Valley (5-3) by two games with two remaining.

The Rebels finish the season with games at Canyon and Burroughs Ridgecrest after a 5-0 league run at home.

In a game with 17 lead changes, it took the eye-opening effort of star senior guard Chris Young to put the Rebels over the edge.

If Quartz Hill was dimming the lights on the league race, then a closer look would reveal Young’s handprints on the light switch.

In a game in which neither team led by more than four points in the first three periods, Young caught fire in the fourth quarter. With the Rebels leading, 43-42, Young sprang off a baseline pick and made a three-point shot to light up the crowd and let a packed house know that it was time for a show.

“Once I hit that first one, I knew it was going to come,” Young said.

It came. After Palmdale’s Jason Grimes hit a jump shot to make it 46-44, Young wasted little time. He sprang off another pick, and drilled another three-point shot. Led by a rowdy football team in the stands, the Rebel rooting section started to sense the kill.

“Once that first shot goes down, he’s going to be on,” Quartz Hill center Cyril Franklin said. “He’s going to pull us out of any kind of slump.”

After Grimes made another jump shot to make it 49-46, Young rebounded a Palmdale miss inside, sprinted down the court, weaved between defenders and artfully laid in a bucket over the 6-foot-7 Grimes.

Two more free throws gave Young 10 points in a two-minute stretch and gave Quartz Hill a 53-46 lead and all but darkened any glimmering Palmdale hopes.

“I expect it of him,” Moore said of Young, who finished with a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds. “He’s the one who’s gonna make it happen. He’s the one who’s gonna make the steal or make the three-point shot.”

But Palmdale (13-9, 4-4) launched a last-ditch comeback, shaving a five-point deficit to two when Chris Tampoya made a bizarre 32-foot three-point shot with 21 seconds left.

The Falcons’ last attempt at a tying shot in the final seconds, though, fell short when Tampoya was hurried into a short jump shot and Ty Gaines’ offensive rebound came as the buzzer sounded.

Palmdale received 21 points from Chris DeGlopper and 16 points and 15 rebounds from Jason Grimes. In the teams’ first meeting, the Falcons handed Quartz Hill its only league loss, 67-65.