The inside-outside duo of SF Wendell White and Ctr Jonathan Holland combined for 49 pts and 21 rebs to lead #2 seed Antelope Valley (24-7) to a 72-55 win over #7 Ventura (23-6) in a second round playoff game March 3rd in Lancaster.
White scored a game-high 31 pts, including 4 threes, to pace the Marauders. He scored 12 of those points during a 31-10 run that covered much of the second half and put AVC in control. His three with about 10 minutes left restored AVC's lead moments after Ventura's Moses Gonzalez had given the Pirates their first lead of the second half, and his three with just under 2 minutes finished the night's scoring and put the Marauders ahead by 19, sending them to the regional final vs. Riverside.
It was a tense, hard-fought playoff-type game with a lot of half-court play and not many easy baskets. All that favored AVC, and Holland in particular. The Bear scored 14 of his 18 pts after halftime, and his 13 rebs were by far a game-high. He scored 10 of those points during AVC's finishing run. And though he picked up his fourth foul with 6:14 left and the game still very much in doubt, he never picked up foul #5.
Early on, it was AVC, and Wendell White in particular, that seemed to have the jitters. In the first 2:34, White missed a shot and had 2 turnovers (AVC was 0-2 with 3 turnovers) as Ventura jumped out to a 6-0 lead. A layup by SF Gonzalez, 2 FTs by SG Elijah Muldrow and a basket by PF Cortez Swanigan gave the Pirates what would be their biggest lead of the night.
After a timeout, and after a brief trip to the bench by White, AVC calmed down and got back into the game. White scored their first basket about 3 minutes in, and within the next 3 minutes the Marauders had evened the score 8-8. Around 7-1/2 mins in, Holland blocked a Ventura shot, grabbed the rebound and handed the ball to PG Mike Webb. Webb tossed the ball down the court to White, who scored to give AVC its first lead at 12-10. Moments later, White nailed a three to make it 15-10, and added a fallaway baseline jumper to make it 17-10 and extend AVC's lead to 7 just after that.
A jumper by Ventura PG Greg Johnson stopped AVC's run, but the Marauders continued to lead the rest of the half. Holland picked up his second foul with 7:35 left and headed for the bench, but AVC soon extended its lead to 10 on a three by PF Carlton Clay. Then Wendell White picked up his 2nd foul and also sat down around the 3 minute mark. But SG Ollie Bradley hit a three to push AVC's lead to 11. Ventura got a pair of buckets from Gonzalez towards the end of the half to cut the margin at intermission to 9, but the fact that AVC could maintain a substantial lead with both of their stars on the bench was an opportunity lost for Ventura.
When the second half began, Ventura seemed invigorated and shot their way back into the game. A jumper by Johnson and a three by Muldrow cut the margin to 4, and another three by Muldrow a short time later cut the deficit to 3 at 37-34. Webb scored on a nice give-and-go with PF Walter White to put AVC back ahead by 5 at 39-34, but then Ventura surged ahead to take the lead. A pair of putback baskets by Ctr Danny Gray sandwiched around a baseline jumper by Gonzalez brought Ventura to within a point at 41-40, and Gonzalez' three with 10:13 to play gave Ventura a 43-41 lead.
But from then on, it was all Antelope Valley and mostly Wendell White and Jonathan Holland. White's three put AVC back ahead, 44-43, moments after Ventura had taken the lead. Then came 2 FTs by Holland and a FG+FT 3-point play by White and suddenly AVC was back ahead by 6. Webb then stole the ball from Johnson and went in for a layup, making it 51-43 with just over 8 minutes left.
After that, AVC fed the ball to Shaq...er, Holland, and extended their lead. Bradley got the ball to Holland for a layup, which he made while drawing a foul. The FT made it 54-43. Then on the next time down, Holland drew another foul and made 1 of 2 FTs, making it 55-43 and capping a 14-0 run for the Marauders.
Ventura got a three from Swanigan to reduce the margin to 9 one last time, but then Holland grabbed a rebound and scored on the putback to restore AVC's double-digit lead. A three from White moments later made it 60-46. AVC led by double-digits the rest of the way. When White made his 4th three of the night to make it 72-53, AVC called timeout to clear the bench and let the reserves enjoy the victory.
White made 13 of 21 shots from the floor en route to his 31 pts, and added 8 rebs. Holland made 8 of 10 FTs, scored 18 pts, grabbed 13 rebs and blocked 4 shots in a dominant inside performance. Webb played a solid all-around game with 8 pts, 5 asts and 3 steals. Bradley added 8 pts and a game-high 6 asts and also registered 3 steals.
Gonzalez led Ventura with 24 pts. Muldrow had 14 pts including a pair of threes, but missed 7 straight shots after the second three that made it 37-34. Swanigan, inserted into the lineup to counteract AVC's big and athletic front line, had a solid game with 9 pts and a team-high 9 rebs. But Ventura shot just 32% from the field and found few opportunities to get out into the open floor. And their bench, which included usual starter Hylas Smith, was held scoreless on a combined 0-for-11 shooting.
Antelope Valley improves to 24-7 and will host #4 Riverside Saturday night. Ventura, which loses in the round of 8 for the fourth straight year, finished 23-6.
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Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - 7 pm
at Marauder Gym (AVC), Lancaster
Ventura Pirates 55:
10-Greg Johnson, PG - 2/14 fg, 5 reb, 3 ast, 4 pts
22-Moses Gonzalez, SF - 10/17 fg, 3/6 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 24 pts
33-Danny Gray, C - 2/3 fg, 5 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 4 pts
45-Elijah Muldrow, SG - 5/17 fg, 2/4 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl, 14 pts
55-Cortez Swanigan, PF - 3/7 fg, 3/5 ft, 9 reb, 2 ast, 9 pts
34-Gary Nunez, C - 0/3 fg, 4 reb, 4 blk, 0 pts
25-Jackson Wood, F - 0/6 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 0 pts
12-Hylas Smith, G - 0/1 fg, 2 ast, 1 stl, 0 pts
41-Thomas Battle, G - 0/1 fg, 0 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 22/69 fg (.319), 8/15 ft (.533), 42 reb, 13 ast, 6 blk, 9 stl, 55 pts
3-pt fg (3): Muldrow 2, Gonzalez
Turnovers (16): Gonzalez 6, Johnson 4, Muldrow 2, Swanigan 2, Gray, Battle
Antelope Valley Marauders 72:
11-Ollie Bradley, SG - 3/9 fg, 2 reb, 6 ast, 3 stl, 8 pts
32-Walter White, PF - 0/2 fg, 5 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 0 pts
41-Wendell White, SF - 13/21 fg, 1/1 ft, 8 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 31 pts
34-Jonathan Holland, C - 5/9 fg, 8/10 ft, 13 reb, 1 ast, 4 blk, 1 stl, 18 pts
22-Mike Webb, PG - 4/8 fg, 5 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl, 8 pts
15-Carlton Clay, F - 2/5 fg, 3 reb, 5 pts
21-Tyme Hodges, G - 1/2 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 2 pts
2-Cameron Alvey, G - 0 pts
5-Abram Thomas, C - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 0 pts
23-Glenn Gilliard II, F - 0 pts
25-Greg Slade, F - 2 reb, 0 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 28/57 fg (.491), 9/12 ft (.750), 43 reb, 18 ast, 6 blk, 9 stl, 72 pts
3-pt fg (7): Wen White 4, Bradley 2, Clay
Turnovers (19): Wen White 5, Webb 4, Wal White 2, Holland 2, Bradley, Clay, Hodges, Alvey, Thomas, Slade
Halftime Score: AVC 33, VC 24
Updated Records: AVC 24-7, VC 23-6
