Antelope Valley Stumbles

L.A. City College overcame an eight-point halftime deficit and held on for an 86-82 victory over Antelope Valley on Saturday night in a semifinal of the Oxnard tournament at Oxnard College.

The Marauders (5-2) had a four-game winning streak broken as the Cubs (2-0) advanced to the championship game tonight at 5 against Chaffey or Harbor. Antelope Valley will play today at 3 p.m.

Germaine Small’s basket with 2:31 remaining gave L.A. City the lead for good at 78-77. Small finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Antelope Valley cut its deficit to two points with 11 seconds left on a basket by Kelly, but the Cubs’ Rico Harris made two free throws with six seconds left. Harris finished with 25 points.

“Their experience down the stretch really helped them,” Antelope Valley Coach Newton Chelette said of L.A. City. “Their prime-time players did a real good job tonight. Our inexperience really hurt us.”

Antelope Valley took a 77-74 lead with 3:32 remaining when Le’Tre Kelly made two free throws following a steal by John Burrell. Burrell, Antelope Valley’s leading scorer, finished with 20 points, including four three-point baskets.

But Burrell, who has signed with Nevada, made only seven of 23 shots from the field.

Kelly, a freshman from Antelope Valley High, scored 19 points and had nine rebounds.

Ziaire Williams, another freshman from Antelope Valley High, added 12 points and seven rebounds and Carlos Wheeler chipped in with 10 points.

Williams scored 10 points in the first half and Antelope Valley forced 13 turnovers, leading to a 40-32 halftime lead over the defending state champions.

The Marauders turned the ball over twice early in the second half and the Cubs capitalized with two three-point baskets, cutting the L.A. City lead to two.

“We made the adjustments we had to make at halftime,” L.A. City assistant coach Wendell Westbrook said. “We executed and controlled the boards down the stretch.

L.A. City Coach Mike Miller missed the game because of a back injury.

Sequoias 83, Oxnard 76--Audreece Dixon had 30 points, nine rebounds and five steals for the Condors (0-6), but it wasn’t enough in a consolation semifinal.

The Giants (6-2) were led by Camilo Rogers, who scored 26 points.