WALNUT - A dominating performance by the No. 1 North seed West Valley Vikings led to a 79-64 victory over No. 4 South seed Cerro Coso Friday in a 3C2A State Quarterfinal game at Mt. San Antonio College.
The fans got what they expected from state-favored West Valley with the 15-point victory.
The Vikings came into the game with an undefeated 30-0 record.
"At this point, it's survive and advance," said West Valley coach Danny Yoshikawa, who was selected CCCMBCA North Coach of the Year. "We did what matters and got the job done. I felt like we played with a lot of stress and (Cerro Coso) is hard to play against. Give Chris (Coso coach Chris Dugan) all the credit in the world. They had a good game plan for us and weren't going to let us run or stuff.
"With that being said, I thought our guys had a little bit of nerves, which is very normal for the first game down here."
West Valley, which lost in the first round last season to eventual champion Fullerton, started fast and never let up throughout the first half.
West Valley had previously built up a 20-point lead, 28-8, with 8:55 left in the opening half.
The Vikings led by 17 points at the end of the half on a reverse layup by sophomore guard Jeremiah Dargan.
Dargan ended up with seven points in the game.
"We emphasize a lot, since we're (31-0) energy and just stay composed, because every team will be coming for us," Dargan said. "Everyone believes in ourselves and we're deep and have like 10 guys that can just go in the game."
Dargan was a freshman last season when they lost to Fullerton in the state quarterfinals. He simply said: "I want that matchup."
He was referring to a possible North No. 1 versus South No. 1 in the title game on Sunday. First things first though, as the Vikings will play Yuba in the semifinals on Saturday.
Leading the way in the game for West Valley with a game-high 26 points was 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Elijah Maji, who was the CCCMBCA North Player of the Year. He also had seven rebounds.
Freshman center Shakir Odunewu added 17 points for the Vikings, while sophomore guard Aaron Ragen had 12. Odunewu was named to the CCCMBCA first team for West Valley.
Darnell Turner, Jr. led Cerro Coso with 15 points, followed by Sincere Edwards and Eddie Garner with 10 each.
In the second half, the Coyotes trimmed the margin to only eight points, 70-62, on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Malachi Greenwich with 5:29 left, which was the closest they had been since early in the game.
Cerro Coso's men's basketball team was the first Coyotes' program to ever advance to a state championship tournament. Cerro Coso finished the season 25-7.
(Release by John Sherrard, for the 3C2A)