COLLEGE BASKETBALL CANYONS TOURNAMENT : Canyons Silences Jackson, Antelope Valley in Final, 78-67

D.J. Jackson promised to take his game to another level when his Antelope Valley College team met Canyons on Saturday night for the third time this season.

Unfortunately for the Marauders, that level was down and not up.

Canyons smothered Jackson and then leveled Antelope Valley for the third consecutive time, winning, 78-67, in the championship game of the Canyons tournament.

“They were looking for us, but the talking is done on the floor--and it was,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said.

It was Canyons’ first tournament title this season, although the Cougars have reached the final of four tournaments.

Talking also was done Friday night when Jackson warned the Cougars (12-4) that Antelope Valley would beat them this time.

“They said they were going to wax us tonight. That gave us some incentive,” said Canyons forward Jeff Dorst, who drew the defensive assignment on Jackson and limited the 6-foot-8 freshman to 16 points on seven of 18 shooting--12 points below Jackson’s average.

With center and leading scorer Reggie Bell sidelined with pneumonia, Smelser turned to Dorst to cover Jackson, who had 44 points Friday against El Camino. The move paid off as Dorst, a 6-5 sophomore, forced Jackson to work hard for his shots.

“It was a good gamble, and the right one,” Smelser said. “Dorst forced him into bad shots.”

Antelope Valley Coach Newton Chelette saw it a little differently.

“If anything had an effect on D.J.’s game it was the bumping and pushing inside,” Chelette said. “I thought we’d beat them tonight, but I think Canyons wanted the ballgame more than we did. They must be the better team if they beat you three times.”

Canyons led just 33-31 before going on a 9-2 run to close out the first half. Antelope Valley (6-9), which shot just 37% from the field in the first half, made its first four shots of the second half and caught Canyons at 44-44.

Canyons built a 59-54 lead with eight minutes to play and gradually began to pull away.

David Langley led Canyons with 18 points and Jason Joynes had 14 points and 10 rebounds.