Greg Wesley scored off an alley-oop pass from Jalen Etienne with 1.8 seconds remaining, breaking a 68-all tie and lifting #14 Antelope Valley to a dramatic 70-68 win over #7 Bakersfield Saturday night in Lancaster.
Antelope Valley (21-6, 7-5) battled back from an 11-point first-half deficit, only to trail again by 7 with 5:23 remaining. But the Marauders rallied again, tying the score at 58 and eventually taking a 63-62 lead on a 3-pointer by Brandon Wade with 2:21 remaining.
Bakersfield (21-5, 10-2) battled back to tie the score when Jameik Riviere scored off an inbounds play with 6.4 seconds left, making it 68-68. But that was enough time for Etienne to find Wesley for the winning score.
Bakersfield still had 1.8 seconds in which to answer, but a long inbounds pass was intercepted by Nevell Lenard, who was fouled with 0.7 seconds left. He missed the ensuing free throw - the front end of a one-and-one opportunity - but the elapsed time, combined with the Renegades being out of timeouts, prevented Bakersfield from a realistic chance to tie or win at that point.
All that came at the end of a game that Bakersfield led for most of the way. The Renegades used a 15-2 run to take a 24-13 lead with just over 7 minutes of the first half. J.J. Moorer scored 10 straight Antelope Valley points to get the Marauders back in the game, and after a steal by Chris Martin, Wade threw down a slam dunk to end the first quarter, bringing the Marauders within 6 to trail, 35-29, at the break.
Antelope Valley continued to chip away at the deficit when the second half began, finally taking a 41-40 lead on a jumper by Moorer with just over 15 minutes remaining. The lead changed hands several times and was tied at 51 with 8:17 left. Bakersfield went on a 7-0 spurt to take a 58-51 lead with 5:23 left, but Antelope Valley answered wtih a 7-0 spurt of its own to tie the score with just over 4 minutes to go, setting the stage for the dramatic ending.
For Antelope Valley, Moorer scored a team-high 18 pts on 9-for-13 from the floor. Wesley came off the bench for 16 pts, including the game-winning basket, plus 6 rebs. Wade had 11 pts and 4 rebs, and Etienne had 10 pts, a game-high 8 asts and no turnovers. KeShaun Mack had 8 pts and a team-high 8 rebs.
For Bakersfield, DeAndre Dickson had a very strong game with 20 pts, 14 rebs, 2 asts, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Riviere had 18 pts and 3 asts, and James Pendleton came off the bench for 12 pts. Nick Velasquez had 8 pts and 8 rebs.
Coach Rich Hughes was less than complimentary about the way the game was officiated, remarking during the second half that "the officiating tonight sucks...put that in your game story!" (Um...you're welcome, but you're on your own if Commissioner Stern calls regarding post-game criticism of officials). One source of frustration had to be that Dickson was defended rather physically by AVC, but the big man was awarded only 3 pairs of free throws on the night, and 2 of those were on fouls that were deemed common fouls and not flagrant fouls only after the three game officials held mid-court conferences. To his credit, Dickson played through it all to post game-highs in points, rebounds and blocked shots.
The win improves Antelope Valley's conference record to 7-5, putting the Marauders in a 3-way tie for 3rd place in the WSC-South, a game behind second place Glendale.
The loss drops Bakersfield to 10-2 in conference. The Renegades have already clinched a share of the WSC-South division crown, and can clinch it outright with a win Wednesday at home against West LA.
Box Score
Saturday, February 13, 2016 - 7 pm
at Marauder Gym, Lancaster
WSC-South
Bakersfield Renegades 68:
1-Jameik Riviere, PG - 6/15 fg, 6/6 ft, 1 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 18 pts
3-Lawrence Moore, SF - 1/7 fg, 0/2 ft, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 1 pf, 2 pts
20-Nick Velasquez, SG - 2/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 8 reb, 1 stl, 8 pts
22-Shane Christie, PF - 3/8 fg, 2 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 6 pts
23-DeAndre Dickson, C - 8/17 fg, 4/6 ft, 14 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk, 2 stl, 2 pf, 20 pts
5-James Pendleton, G - 4/14 fg, 3/3 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 12 pts
33-Dequan Green, F - 1 blk, 1 stl, 0 pts
25-Sean LeFlore, F - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
30-Sky Seay, C - 0/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
15-Christopher CJ Johnson, F - 1/2 fg, 1 reb, 2 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 25/69 fg (.362), 15/21 ft (.714), 45 reb, 10 ast, 6 blk, 9 stl, 12 pf, 68 pts
3-pt fg (3): Velasquez 2, Pendleton
Turnovers (16): Moore 6, Pendleton 3, Riviere 2, Velasquez, Christie, Dickson, Seay, team
Antelope Valley Marauders 70:
3-Jalen Etienne, PG - 3/11 fg, 3/4 ft, 2 reb, 8 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 10 pts
5-Brandon Wade, SF - 5/7 fg, 4 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl, 2 pf, 11 pts
13-Joseph JJ Moorer, SG - 9/13 fg, 1 blk, 1 pf, 18 pts
20-KeShaun Mack, PF - 4/8 fg, 8 reb, 2 ast, 4 pf, 8 pts
23-Nevell Lenard, C - 1/7 fg, 2/5 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 4 pts
2-Chris Martin, G - 1/7 fg, 1 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 3 pts
11-Kenneth KJ Moffett, F - 0/1 fg, 1 stl, 3 pf, 0 pts
12-Izayah Doyle, F - 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 0 pts
22-Gregory Wesley, C - 8/11 fg, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 pf, 16 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 31/65 fg (.477), 5/9 ft (.556), 36 reb, 17 ast, 6 blk, 9 stl, 15 pf, 70 pts
3-pt fg (3): Etienne, Wade, Martin
Turnovers (14): Moffett 4, Mack 3, Martin 3, Moorer 2, Wade, Wesley
Halftime Score: Bakersfield 35, Antelope Valley 29
Updated Records: Antelope Valley (#14-South) 21-6, 7-5 in WSC-S; Bakersfield (#7-South, #12-Calif) 21-5, 10-2 in WSC-S
Bakersfield led by 11 at 24-13 with just over 7 minutes left in the 1st half.
Antelope Valley took a 41-40 lead with just over 15 minutes left in the 2nd half.
The lead went back and forth, with AVC taking a 63-62 lead on a 3-pointer by Wade.
BC tied the score at 68 on a driving lay-up by Riviere off an inbounds play with 6.4 secs left.
AVC won it when Wesley scored off an alley-oop pass from Etienne with 1.8 seconds left.
