Strong Defense by Canyons Holds Off Antelope Valley

When all else goes wrong, there is always hope if a team plays good defense.

The College of the Canyons men’s basketball team put that lesson to use Saturday night by turning a dismal second-half start into a defensive exhibition in an 89-76 nonconference victory over visiting Antelope Valley.

After its 12-point halftime advantage became a 65-63 deficit with 8 minutes 11 seconds left, Canyons switched to a trapping zone defense and all but shut the door on the Marauders the rest of the way.

“Coach (Lee Smelser) was hollering at us, we had to get our defense back on track,” said Canyons guard David Langley, who complemented a fine defensive effort with a game-high 23 points. “If it wasn’t for our defense, we wouldn’t have gotten the lead back.”

After Antelope Valley’s Chris DeGlopper tied the score, 71-71, with a three-point basket, the Marauders went the next 5:27 without a point as Canyons built a comfortable 86-71 lead with less than one minute to play.

“When you expend as much energy as that trying to catch up, you get tired and the shots don’t fall,” said Antelope Valley Coach Newton Chelette, whose team didn’t help itself by making only 27 of 74 shots from the field. “When the ball goes up, you have to be ready to play. Obviously, we weren’t ready to play.”

Canyons, the defending Western State Conference South Division champion, improved to 4-1. The two-time defending Foothill Conference champion Marauders fell to 2-3.

In the first half, Canyons took advantage of a 12-of-37 shooting performance by Antelope Valley to build a 46-34 lead at intermission.

All things considered, it could have been worse for the Marauders as Canyons opened an 18-point lead at one point behind the shooting of sophomores Langley, Reggie Bell and Mike Basowski.

Bell, a 6-foot-4, 191-pound forward from Hawthorne High, scored Canyons’ first six points and finished with 12. Basowski, a 6-1 guard from Reseda, came off the bench to hit three first-half three-point shots. He also finished with 12 points.

But behind the shooting of guard Chris Walters (team-high 20 points) and forward Jason Grimes (19 points, 11 rebounds), Antelope Valley went on a 31-17 run to start the second half.

After Antelope Valley caught Canyons, 71-71, however, Cougar center Jeff Dorst (11 points, 10 rebounds) keyed a 15-0 run with consecutive field goals.

Antelope Valley’s D.J. Jackson, who entered the game averaging 30 points, scored just seven and did not play in the second half. “We played the guys we wanted to play in the second half,” Chelette said.

Marquis Wilborn added 12 points for Canyons.