LV PREP CHAMPIONSHIP: Canyon Springs spurns layoff, rolls in tourney, 76-29

It wouldn’t have been surprising if Canyon Springs’ boys basketball team came out flat on Monday.

After all, it was the day after Christmas, and the Pioneers hadn’t played since Dec. 17.

But Canyon Springs showed no rust, scoring the game’s first 13 points on the way to a 76-29 win over Santa Fe (Calif.) at the Las Vegas Prep Championship at Las Vegas High.

“I made a point to them, I said, 'You know what? If you ain’t playing defense, you’re coming out,’ ” Canyon Springs coach Freddie Banks said. “So what they did is make a point that they were going to play defense tonight and play hard.”

Canyon Springs held Santa Fe to 4-for-26 shooting in the first half as the Pioneers took a 51-11 halftime lead.

The defending Class 4A state champs forced 14 first-half turnovers, turning them into 17 points and helping set a fast tempo.

“Once we get it, we’ve got to run,” Banks said. “We can’t slow the ball down. We need to go at people as fast as we can. Tonight we just pressured the ball better.”

It was Canyon Springs’ first win since Dec. 14. The Pioneers dropped three games in a tournament in Utah before the holiday break.

“Utah made us open our eyes a little better, because you don’t get any calls up there, and they play fundamentally sound basketball,” Banks said.

“The layoff made us realize that, hey, any given night, someone can beat you.”

Canyon Springs lost 10 seniors off last year’s state title team. Only 6-foot-5-inch senior forward Nick Scott saw significant minutes, and he showed his leadership on Monday, finishing with 13 points and 16 rebounds.

“Nick is very important to us, and we’re not getting him the ball enough, and he’s getting frustrated, which I would be, too, because he’s on the glass and he’s rebounding,” Banks said. “He’s rebounding a lot, but I’ve got to figure out what I need to do to get him the ball more so he can score.”

Senior guard Anthony Jones came off the bench to score 12 for the Pioneers. Sophomore point guard Shaquille Powell had 11 points and four assists, and senior forward Kashion Tucker also scored 11 for Canyon Springs, which outrebounded the Chiefs 61-31.

“We have come a long way with this group, because nobody has experience,” Banks said. “We continue to grow as time goes on because of our name, Canyon Springs.

“Everybody wants to beat Canyon Springs, so we’ve just got to keep playing basketball like we know how.”

Eldorado 68, Bonanza 34 — At Las Vegas, D.J. Billingsley had 22 points, nine rebounds and four steals as the Sundevils rolled past the Bengals.

Quavioun Thorns added 12 points, and Da’Quon Thrower had 10 points and eight rebounds for Eldorado.

Ashton Howard had nine rebounds for Bonanza.

Las Vegas 79, Western 49 — At Las Vegas, Olynsso Pratt came off the bench to score 20 points, all in the second half, as the Wildcats routed the Warriors.

Juwan Major added 18 points, and Hasaan Henderson had 17 points and seven rebounds for Las Vegas.

Malik Weekly led Western with 15 points, and teammate Nate Johnson had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Basic 53, Chaparral 47 — At Las Vegas, Andrew Lopez scored 13 points to help the Wolves top the Cowboys.

Chandler Kamai added 12 points, and Isaiah Villaros had 10 points for Basic.

Woodbridge (Calif.) 82, Del Sol 40 — At Las Vegas, Michael Scarlett had 17 points to help the Warriors beat the Dragons.

Max Prescott had nine points for Del Sol.

Clark 76, Sierra Vista 48 — At Valley, Diontae Jones had 17 points and eight rebounds as the Chargers downed the Mountain Lions.

Sir Washington had 16 points, and Bryan McGriff scored 10 for Clark, which outscored Sierra Vista 48-19 in the second half.

DeAndre Henderson had nine points, six rebounds and two steals for Clark, and teammate Kentrell Washington supplied eight points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Sierra Vista's Sean Williams scored 19 of his game-high 30 points in the first half, and finished with six 3-pointers.

Liberty 72, Santee (Calif.) 42 — At Valley, Rhandy Tomlinson had 18 points and three steals as the Patriots routed the Falcons.

Elijah Graves had 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Liberty, which jumped to an early 28-8 lead.

Jeremy Lagasca scored 10 points for the Patriots, and Kyle Kaleb supplied seven points and four assists.

Bijon Johnson had 11 points, and Paul Millsap scored 10 for Santee.

Valley 73, Westlake (Calif.) 60 — At Valley, Caleb Carter had 20 points, 13 rebounds and two steals to lead the Vikings past the Warriors.

Keanu Peters had 15 points, and Chris Swanson scored 11 for Valley, which closed the game on a 27-10 run after Westlake had taken a 50-46 lead midway through the second half.

Spencer Mathis hit a baseline jumper with about five minutes remaining to give the Vikings a 54-53 lead, then made a driving layup to give Valley a 58-53 cushion down the stretch.

Daniel Young had nine points and five rebounds for Valley, and Ryan Johnson added five assists.

Josh Brooks had 20 points for Westlake.