Antelope Valley falls to North
Antelopes can’t keep up with Stars in Lions’ Showcase
LANCASTER — The Antelope Valley boys basketball team scored on the opening possession of its game in the Lions’ New Year’s Holiday Showcase at Eastside High on Friday night.
The brief, early lead may have been the high point of the game for the Antelopes against North High of Bakersfield.
The Stars quickly answered to take the lead, built a double-digit advantage and pulled away for a 74-42 victory over Antelope Valley at Eastside High.
Antelope Valley falls to 6-14 overall, while North improves to 11-5 overall.
“Not our best game. Not our best effort, but the limited gym time proved to be our Achilles’ heel in this,” Antelope Valley coach Edward Campbell II said. “We have plenty of practice time, it’s just our kids not willing to show up to those practices and wanting to work on our craft. We got exposed for it tonight.
“It’s a consistency thing and right now we’re not consistent with ourselves. We’ve been in a bunch of Golden League games that didn’t go our way and the kids are questioning what they need to do. Not showing up to practice hurts and having to call up JV kids to fill those spots, that hurts us too.”
Antelope Valley senior Kiwan Sims Jr. scored the first basket, with a layup on the opening possession, and finished with a team-high 12 points.
AV sophomore Deshawn Lewis finished with 10 points and junior Dylan Archie had eight points.
North outscored AV 18-8 in the first quarter and led 31-19 at halftime.
The Stars took control in the third quarter, outscoring the Antelopes 2010, taking a 51-29 lead into the fourth quarter.
Antelope Valley cut the deficit to seven, 35-28 on a 3-pointer by senior Pierce Hill with four minutes and 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but it would be as close as the Antelopes would get.
North answered with a 16-1 run to close out the quarter.
The run by the Stars extended into the fourth quarter, outscoring AV 27-5 to take a 62-33 lead early in the final quarter.
“Antelope Valley switched defenses quite a bit in the first half, gave us some different looks,” North coach A.J. Shearon said. “I think, in the second half, we were able to talk about some things at halftime, have the boys come out. They really excuted in the third quarter, went on quite a big run there and then kind of finished them off in the fourth.”
North outscored AV 23-13 in the
fourth quarter, as 10 different North players scored.
North freshman Ethan Saenz led the Stars with 18 points and junior Wyatt Haner added 15, on four 3-pointers in the first half.
The Stars are led by senior Nate Becerra, who finished with eight points.
“The majority of our guys beyond that are young,” Shearon said. “Our point guard Ethan Saenz is a freshman, so we have performances like this, where it’s a little disjointed, maybe a little disconnected. One good half, one bad half, but overall I was really happy with the way they stepped up.
“Being in a new environment, our first time at Eastside, coach (Ashly) McCullough is doing a really cool thing with this showcase and we’re really happy to be here.”
North junior Elias Griffin was named the showcase player of the game.
The Stars defeated Millikan 56-42 in Long Beach on Thursday night, driving home to Bakersfield and then coming back down to Lancaster on Friday.
“I think we started slow, but I really love the way we competed in the second half. Really competed at a high level,” Shearon said. “Finished some stuff at the rim. I was happy with the way we finished that game.”
North will face Desert at 10:30 a.m. today at Eastside High.
Antelope Valley will play Palisades on Jan. 15 at Louisville High at 1 p.m., before resuming league play on Jan. 17, when the Antelopes host Littlerock. The Antelopes are winless in league play at 0-7.
Lancaster 77, Cal City 49
The Eagles (10-10) led 26-9 after the first quarter and cruised to a victory over the Ravens (8-6) in the Eastside Showcase.
Lancaster juniors Keelan Benjamin and De’shane Evans both led the Eagles with 14 points apiece.
Benjamin scored 10 points in the first quarter and 13 in the first half, when the Eagles led 47-19 at the half.
Lancaster juniors Darius Jackson and Alvaro Martinez both scored 12 points apiece for the Eagles, who led 61-35 after the third quarter. Jackson had 10 points at halftime.
Lancaster senior center Abayomi Suulola scored seven points and was named the showcase player of the game.
Lancaster defeated California City 56-45 in the season opener on Nov. 14 in the Antelope Valley Tournament.
“We came out strong. I definitely liked how we started,” Lancaster coach Jamal Sloan said. “The first time we played them, we weren’t together, as we were today. It turned out much better.
“The second half, I kind of anticipated we’d take a step back, so I tried to get to them at halftime. It just didn’t work out. The third quarter, we came out like a totally different team. The fourth quarter, we rode it back in. Overall, you’re always happy to win, but once you’re up by that much so early, it becomes a teachable moment.”
Lancaster will face Pacifica-Oxnard at 6 p.m. today at Eastside High.
The Eagles resume Golden League play on Jan. 17 at Eastside High.
Lancaster is tied for fourth place in league with Littlerock, both 4-4 in league play.
Cal City freshman Cassius Brown led the Ravens with 12 points, senior Jeremiah Baker finished with 11 points and freshman DeShawn Elizalde added seven.
The Ravens will play Littlerock today at 1:30 p.m. at Eastside High and resume High Desert League play on Tuesday at home against Mammoth.
Cal City is currently alone and undefeated in first place in league.
In other showcase games on Friday, Highland-Bakersfield defeated Palmdale 64-47 behind Highland senior Lance Haworth’s 31 points, earning him player of the game.
Hillcrest Christian beat Rosamond 69-62. Rosamond trailed 24-17 at the end of the first quarter and 41-33 at halftime. Hillcrest Christian’s Mason Stueber was named player of the game.
Adelanto defeated AGBU 56-36. Adelanto senior Komari Lewis scored 17 points and was named the player of the game.
Bernstein defeated Lakeview Charter 92-34 in the first game of the day, as Bernstein junior Greg Griffin finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists and three steals to earn player of the game.