Canyons Subdues Valley With Late Charge, 80-67

There is a right way to play basketball, and a wrong way in the final minutes of a crucial game.

Spectators saw examples of both in a Western State Conference South Division men’s game between visiting College of the Canyons and Valley on Thursday night.

The right way is to take high-percentage shots and play tough defense against one’s opponent, which Canyons did.

The wrong way is to force shots and have defensive breakdowns, which Valley was guilty of several times in Canyons’ 80-67 victory.

The victory, the fifth in a row for Canyons (21-6, 6-1 in division play), avenged a 21-point loss to Valley in the first round of division play and kept the Cougars in a first-place tie with Santa Monica with three games left in the regular season.

David Langley scored 16 points for Canyons, which will play at Santa Monica on Saturday night.

Rasaan Hall and Jason Joynes added 15 points each for the defending division champion Cougars, who reeled off 12 consecutive points to break a 61-61 tie.

Valley (15-13, 4-3) lost its second game in a row and will need a lot of help from other teams just to share the division title.

“I think defense was the difference between this game and the last time we played them,” Hall said.

“They shot something like 60 to 65% in the first half the last time we played them, but tonight we played a lot tougher. We knew (Randy) Brown was their big scoring threat, so we just tried to keep him under control and make their other guys take the shots for them.”

Brown, who averaged 27.3 points in his previous six games, was held to 16. He scored five points in the second half and none in the final 5 minutes 20 seconds when Valley was outscored, 19-6.

Valley’s Russell Baldwin (14 points) hit two free throws to tie the score, 61-61, but after that, it was all Canyons.

Langley drove the baseline for a layup and Joynes made a follow shot to give the Cougars a 65-61 advantage.