Pioneers start, finish

The formula for the Canyon Springs boys basketball team typically calls for Jordan Davis to provide an early offensive spark before turning the scoring load over to Channel Banks.

The Pioneers flipped the script Friday.

Banks scored 22 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, and visiting Canyon Springs routed sixth-ranked Clark 77-56 in a nonleague game.

“It’s not a revenge-type game,” said Canyon Springs coach Freddie Banks, whose team suffered double-digit losses to the Chargers each of the past two seasons. “We just want to continue to play well. They know how I am, and if they don’t play hard, they’ve got to sit down. And tonight, they played well.”

Banks went 10-for-11 from the field and added eight rebounds and two steals for No. 7 Canyon Springs (12-6). He finished with 14 points in the second quarter and made three straight 3-pointers during one stretch to help the Pioneers take a 48-30 halftime lead.

“Tonight was Channel’s night,” Freddie Banks said. “We know everyone is going to key on Jordan, and Channel kind of stepped up tonight. When you’ve got a guy like him on fire, you give him the ball.”

Davis had 17 points, three assists and two steals, and Antonio Longmyers finished with 12 points and three rebounds. Canyon Springs shot 63 percent from the field in the first half and finished 28-for-55 overall.

Banks’ three-point play with 6:43 left in the third quarter put the Pioneers ahead 54-32 — those were Banks’ final points — before Davis added the exclamation point in the fourth quarter with an alley-oop slam off a pass from Longmyers.

Canyon Springs led by 31 points midway through the fourth before Clark (8-7) scored the final 10 points.

Darius Jackson had 11 points and seven rebounds to lead the Chargers. Teammate Carter Olsen added 11 points but was limited to 1-for-3 shooting from the field by Davis.

“He wanted Carter all night because we know Carter can shoot the ball,” Freddie Banks said. “If you’re a defender who can move his feet and make him put the ball on the floor, it’s hard to score. We just tried to make him play our type of game.”

Colby Jackson’s bucket with 3:06 remaining in the first quarter tied the game at 12, but Clark went more than eight minutes without a field goal as the Pioneers built a 36-24 second-quarter advantage.

The Chargers shot 29 percent (12-for-41) for the game.

“I’m happy with what our defense did,” Freddie Banks said. “We went over a lot of the things they do in practice. I scouted them, and they did it pretty good.”

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.