Antelope Valley Finally Slams Door on Palmdale

Never mind the four slams by Antelope Valley High in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Golden League game at Palmdale.

The Antelopes’ 52-48 victory over the Falcons was anything but a slam dunk up until then.

Antelope Valley, ranked No. 2 in The Times’ regional poll, trailed Palmdale throughout the second and third quarters before asserting itself in the fourth.

The victory gave Antelope Valley (20-6, 8-0) the outright league title over second-place Palmdale (16-9, 6-2).

“We had to work hard,” Antelope Valley forward Ziaire Williams said. “We got to give Palmdale a lot of credit, but I didn’t want no co-championship. I want to have my cake and eat it too.”

Williams did his part by scoring 21 points and grabbing six rebounds. The Antelopes also got 19 points and 12 rebounds from Le’Tre Kelly.

Consecutive dunks by Kelly and Williams gave the Antelopes the lead for good, 45-44, with six minutes to play. Antelope Valley put down two more dunks in the quarter, and built up an eight-point lead at 52-44 with three minutes to go.

Palmdale, led, 44-41, going into the period, but the Falcons made only two of 15 shots in the last eight minutes. Antelope Valley ran off 11 consecutive points to open the quarter, and the Falcons did not score until there was 2:10 to play.

Palmdale was hurt down the stretch by Markus Carr’s off night. The senior forward, bound for Cal State Northridge on a basketball scholarship, was two of 20 from the field. He finished with eight points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Kevin Miller helped fill the void with 23 points. He made five of 14 three-point attempts, including four for Palmdale’s first 12 points of the third quarter and a 42-34 Falcon lead.

Palmdale took its first lead, 15-14, on a basket by Miller to open the second quarter.

From there, the period was all Palmdale’s, as the Falcons forced seven Antelope Valley turnovers and opened up an eight-point advantage with a mixture of drives inside and accurate outside shooting.

Palmdale was seven of 12 from the field in the quarter and Antelope Valley made just two of nine shots. The Antelopes did not score during the first 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter, but made six of 11 free throws to stay within 30-25 at halftime.