Price Is Right and Trounces Antelope Valley Christian

Antelope Valley Christian was competitive with Price for the first half of their Southern Section Division V-A boys’ basketball final Thursday before falling victim to its press.

The Eagles committed 15 turnovers and were outscored by 30 in the third quarter of a 92-54 loss at The Pyramid.

Price won its third consecutive division championship. The Knights are the defending state champions.

“We thought we had them and then they turned the intensity up,” Coach David Nurse of Antelope Valley Christian said after his team’s second loss in a final to the Knights in three seasons.

That’s what Price Coach Michael Lynch hoped would happen after a fiery halftime talk.

“We put the match under the fire,” said Lynch, whose team led by 45 twice. “[I] just encouraged the guys that they must play harder.”

Nurse said Price did not make any second-half changes to its press.

“The openings were still there,” Nurse said. “Had we hit the seams and our transition was a little bit better, we would have gotten bucket after bucket. We couldn’t see the seams, got a little rattled and came out of our game.”

Trailing, 39-26, at halftime, the Eagles (22-7) were outscored, 15-0, starting the second half before John Cho’s layup off a long press-breaking pass 2:54 into the half ended the run.

The Knights (29-3) scored the next 12 points for a 66-28 lead.

After forward Solomon De Francis of Antelope Valley Christian scored five points on a three-point play and basket, Price continued pressing, scoring the quarter’s final 10 points, increasing its lead to 76-33.

With the press creating easy scoring opportunities, the Knights made 17 of 21 shots in the quarter.

The Eagles made three of eight.

Senior guard Andrew Howard of Price said his team has had better quarters.

“We’ve played quarters where we haven’t let the other team get off a shot,” said Howard, who scored seven of his 12 points in the third quarter.

Cho had 17 for Antelope Valley Christian, and senior forward Jamal Flanagan added 12 before fouling out with 46.9 seconds left in the third quarter, and sophomore forward Chris Yoo had 10.

The Eagles’ 29 turnovers limited them to 39 shots, making 16 (41%).

The Knights took 69 shots, making 37 (53.6%).

Price held a 33-26 rebounding advantage.

Christopher Alexander had 24 points and Jermaine Jamerson added 10 for Price.

Cho and Flanagan were members of the Eagles team which lost to Price, 77-60, in the 1999 Division V-A final.