He’s Not Going to Division I on a Pass : College basketball: At Antelope Valley, Prince proves he isn’t one-dimensional, but you want this guy to shoot the three.

Before going any further, Danny Prince wants to set the record straight.

Wait. Another one? Doesn’t he own a few records already after all those three-point baskets he has made?

Well, yes, but Prince wants to clarify a point. Actually, a three-pointer.

“I’m not a ball hog,” Prince said. “It’s not like I don’t pass the ball or something.”

The way he can shoot from the outside, maybe he shouldn’t.

Prince, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard at Antelope Valley College, is a three-point specialist who can hit the mark from anywhere on the floor. And often.

This season, the former Quartz Hill High standout is having remarkable success with his long-range shots, much more than even he anticipated.

“Danny is the purest shooter I’ve ever coached,” said Newton Chelette, the Marauder coach. “Mechanically and technically, his shot is as good as it comes. He is just a phenomenal shooter.”

As the Marauders (19-11) prepare for tonight’s game against Pasadena City at Lancaster in the first round of the Southern California regional, Prince is on a three-point roll.

On Feb. 9, Prince set a school single-game record with 11 three-point baskets in a 114-80 victory over Barstow in a Foothill Conference game. Seven days later, he made 10 more in the team’s next game, a 103-100 overtime victory over Victor Valley. He also had 10 three-point baskets in two consecutive games in January.

With every three-point basket he makes, Prince increases his school single-season mark of 171 and pulls closer to Tony Madison’s school career record of 270, which he trails by 10.

Prince’s shooting also improves the chances of winning for the Marauders. He was the team’s leading scorer in 18 of the 30 games, including a career-best 43 points in a 111-93 conference victory over Mt. San Jacinto on Feb. 5, and leads Antelope Valley in scoring with a 23.1 average.

His 44.1% accuracy (171 of 388) from three-point range was only slightly lower than his 45.5% (51 of 112) from elsewhere on the floor. And he also had 82 assists, the third-highest total on the team, to show that the ball really leaves his hands in other directions rather than the basket.

Those numbers helped him become the conference’s most valuable player and were a major reason in Antelope Valley’s second-place finish behind unbeaten Chaffey with a 12-4 record. Prince also proved to himself that the long hours spent in the gym working on his shooting were not wasted.

“I went to the gym at 6 o’clock every morning during the off-season,” Prince said. “I shot for about an hour each time. I was taking about 500 shots a day.

“The three-point shots were the main thing, but I was also practicing other things. I was shooting off the dribble and I was working on pump fakes--a lot of different stuff.”

Chelette, in his fifth season with the Marauders, has coached several outstanding players in his career. But he compares Prince’s determination to that of only Joe Dumars, the Detroit Piston guard who played at McNeese State when Chelette was an assistant at the Lake Charles, La., school.

“Joe is the only other player I’ve coached who has the work habits Danny has,” Chelette said. “And that’s kind of ironic, because Joe is Danny’s idol.”

Prince, who was primarily a point guard in high school, said the off-season drills were physically demanding but he never wavered. He has his sights set on a scholarship to a four-year school and sharpening his three-point shot could be his ticket.

“I’ve had agonizing pain in my shoulder (after the workouts),” Prince said. “My wrist ached a lot. My neck and my arm bothered me. Everything hurt.”

The conditioning paid off and transformed him into a perfectionist. The night he sank 11 three-point baskets, Prince took 21 shots from beyond the line, seven more than in any game last season. Even the ones he made, however, didn’t always meet his high standards.

“There were some shots that went in that I didn’t even like,” Prince said. “In my mind, they don’t count. If they touch the rim or the glass (backboard), it’s like they don’t count.”

They do, however, especially in the eyes of Division I recruiters. Several schools, he said, including Cal State Fullerton, New Mexico State, Utah State and Oregon, have shown interest.

“It’s like a Big West Conference convention when we play,” Chelette said. “Everyone is here to watch him play.”

And to see that Prince is much more than a ball hog.