Valley gets even with Pioneers

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 10:12 a.m.

When Canyon Springs beat Valley on the road last month, the Pioneers were 9-2 and looking like the class of the Northeast Division.

Tuesday night at the new campus in North Las Vegas, the first-year school officially came back to reality.

Only two Pioneers scored in double-digits as Valley rolled to a 75-60 Northeast Division victory. Canyon Springs is 4-6 since that win on Dec. 15.

Valley outscored its opponent 21-14 in the second quarter and 22-14 in the fourth en route to the win. Josh Rivers led the Vikings with 25 points, and Justin Everett scored eight of his 18 points in a 12-2 Valley run to close out the second half.

Only two Canyon Springs players had more than two points in the first half. According to Everett, defense was the priority Tuesday.

"We knew the game would run on defense. You know the offense will get theirs," he said. "We came out and made sure they didn't get too many second-chance shots, we boxed out and concentrated on Juan Pattillo."

Pattillo, Canyon Springs' standout guard, scored just 17 points, well short of the 29 points he netted at Valley, and also below his average of 20.6 points per game.

The night looked much more promising for the Pioneers early on. After closing the first quarter down 17-12, Canyon Springs went on an 8-2 run with 3:49 left in the first half. At that point, Pattillo had 10 points and teammate Robert Williams had 11 more.

That's when Everett took over, hitting two 3-pointers and another basket to put Valley up by seven. Rivers added another three, and Jerrell Hawkins' putback left Valley with a 12-point lead at the half.

While the Pioneers had two scorers with more than a basket, five Vikings had four or more points in the first half.

"That's pretty indicative of how we play," Vikings coach Tom Farnsworth said. "We're definitely not a one-dimensional team."

For Canyon Springs, the loss bumped it down to the fourth seed in the Northeast, just 1 1/2 games ahead of Desert Pines for the division's final playoff spot.

Pioneers coach Daryl Branham was frustrated at his players' lack of output, but also commended the Vikings' pressure.

"We didn't get the contributions from the other guys we normally get," Branham said. "It doesn't help that Josh (Rivers) and Justin (Everett) were pretty ... hot tonight."

Northeast teams play again on Thursday, with Canyon Springs traveling to Desert Pines and Valley hosting Rancho, both at 6:30 p.m.