Valencia Proves It Belongs

So far the Valencia High basketball team has been living up to preseason expectations, but Coach Gary Spindt doesn’t want to hear about it.

The Vikings, ranked third in The Times’ preseason poll, won their third game in as many days when they defeated Quartz Hill, 80-68, in the first round of the Saugus tournament Wednesday night at Saugus High.

Center Jerrohn Jordan had 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Vikings, who led, 27-7, after the first quarter.

Quartz Hill (0-1) rallied and pulled to within 67-63 with 1:49 to play, but the Vikings made all eight of their free-throw attempts in the final minute.

The Vikings (3-0) defeated Lancaster and Crescenta Valley earlier this week, but the victory over Quartz Hill, one of the favorites in the Golden League, shows the Vikings are for real.

“I don’t want to hear about it,” Spindt said of the preseason expectations. “It’s nice and it’s a compliment but if we’re going to win any awards it will be in February, not in December.

Valencia’s up-tempo offense produced numerous fast-break opportunities, including three dazzling dunks.

Fabian Leon had 20 points for the Vikings. Chris Hebert had 24 points for Quartz Hill and Shawn Lett had 21.

Valencia played without injured Royce Minor and Manuel White.

Saugus 48, Alemany 36--Matt Bradley had 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven steals for the Centurions in a season opener for both teams.

Despite scoring just four points in the second quarter, Saugus took a 17-12 halftime lead and opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run to open up a 40-28 lead.

Colin O’Hara added 10 points for Saugus. Mike Murry led Alemany with eight points.

La Canada A 70, Bakersfield Stockdale 29--The inside-outside attack by the Spartans (2-0) was too much for the Mustangs (0-1) to handle.

La Canada center Matt Moore had 22 points and eight rebounds. Four of Moore’s points came from the free-throw line, the other 18 came on inside layups.

Rob Kane and Ian Sullivan provided the outside attack, combining for six three-pointers after Stockdale switched to a zone defense to neutralize Moore. Kane finished with 14 points and Sullivan had 11.

The La Canada defense held the Mustangs to two second-quarter points and the Spartans took a 29-11 lead at halftime.

Antelope Valley 66, La Canada B 52--Josh Speaks had 18 points and Roger Price had 14 to spark the Antelopes (1-1).

La Canada was within 25-22 with three minutes left in the first half, but the Antelopes went on a 20-10 third-quarter run to pull away.

John May had 18 points for La Canada, which split its 16-player varsity roster into two teams for the tournament.

Canyon 60, Oxnard 46--The Cowboys (2-0) made seven of eight free throws in the final five minutes to seal the victory.

Mike Reardon had 13 points off the bench for Canyon, which had a 26-18 halftime lead. Nick Longshore had 10 points, also off the bench.

San Fernando 99, Highland 57--Devon Montgomery had 12 of his 25 points in the first quarter and the Tigers took a 58-25 lead by halftime.

Mike Page had 24 points and Luis De La Rosa added 19 for San Fernando. Wendell Bonner had 25 points for Highland (0-2).