COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Walters Keeps Antelope Valley Alone in 1st

Chris Walters hit a free throw with two seconds left to give visiting Antelope Valley College a 75-74 victory over Rio Hondo in a Foothill Conference basketball game Friday.

The victory was the sixth in a row for the Marauders (15-10, 9-1 in conference play) and kept them alone atop the Foothill Conference standings. Rio Hondo dropped to 17-8, 7-3.

D. J. Jackson had game-high totals of 33 points and 12 rebounds for Antelope Valley. Jason Grimes added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Marauders.

Antelope Valley led 74-71, but Rio Hondo tied the score, 74-74, when Bernard Walker (30 points) hit a three-point shot with five seconds left, setting the stage for Walters’ heroics.

BASEBALL

Mission 6, Antelope Valley 6--Gabe Chavez of Mission College managed to beat the imposing darkness with a seventh-inning grand slam. Too bad the blast didn’t beat Antelope Valley.

Chavez’s home run capped a five-run rally and earned Mission a 6-6 tie with the host Marauders in a nonconference junior college baseball opener called because of darkness after 7 1/2 innings.

Chavez, a Poly High graduate, was three for four.

Antelope Valley’s Larry Layman was two for two with two walks. Teammate Brian Stevens was three for four.

Rancho Santiago 2, Moorpark 0--J. J. Thobe pitched eight shutout innings for host Rancho Santiago (1-0) in an opening-round game of the Rancho Santiago tournament. Thobe, who was a reliever last season, had eight strikeouts and allowed four hits.

Long Beach 15, Oxnard 1--Nick Frank, Steve Susko and Jamie Valdez each had two hits for Oxnard in a Rancho Santiago tournament opener.

San Diego Mesa 6, Valley 2--Carlos Olmos, Kevin Walsh and Mike Murray each had two hits for Valley in the first-round game of the Mesa tournament, but the Monarchs could not overcome three errors which led to three unearned Mesa runs.

Riverside 2, Canyons 1--Reliever Jim Shiner struck out pinch-hitter Anthony Chessani with two on and two out in the ninth inning to preserve Riverside’s season-opening win in the Cerritos-Fullerton tournament.

Mitch Bowen took the loss for Canyons, allowing five hits and two earned runs in seven innings.