BOYS' BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: A.V. DEFEATS PALMDALE AT UNUSUALLY SLOW PACE.

Byline: Jason David  Special to the Daily News

The Antelope Valley boys' basketball team tried to intimidate Palmdale with its first possession in its 54-36 victory Thursday at the Antelope Valley Summer League. But a soaring Donald Tayler was unable to throw down a beautiful alley-oop pass from Andre Crenshaw.

Nevertheless, the Antelopes took a 10-point lead nine minutes into the game. They didn't press early and the pace of the game was slow, an unusual circumstance for Antelope Valley, which scores most of its points in transition. The Antelopes played effectively in the halfcourt set and would have gone into the half with a bigger lead than eight if they had not given up as many offensive rebounds.

Palmdale scored 14 points off of second chances and that kept it in the game. It had to play from behind and managed to stay within 11 points even when Antelope Valley turned to its fullcourt press six minutes into the second half.

The Antelopes scored their first eight points of the second half at the free-throw line and then Carlton Clay made himself an offensive machine. He would step out to the free-throw line, receive a pass and then work his way inside for good looks. He also showed some flair off the dribble, spinning around defenders with grace and finishing with finesse.

With about 12 minutes left in the game, Antelope Valley was up 37-28 and Palmdale's offense disappeared. It went scoreless for the next seven minutes and scored only eight points the rest of the way.

--Paraclete's summer struggles: Paraclete of Lancaster stuck with Quartz Hill during the first 10 minutes of their matchup last week at the Antelope Valley Summer League, but then, as has happened often this summer, Paraclete ran out of gas and allowed an insurmountable lead to build up, ultimately losing 69-43.

Quartz Hill went on a 21-5 run to close out the first half. Lawrence Dantzler ran an unstoppable offense and showed some flair himself. Given open looks from the outside, he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, nailing two 3-pointers that helped the Rebels gain momentum.

Andre Johnson dominated. He beat defenders off the dribble and played strongly in the post, finding open players for layups when he wasn't elevating over defenders and knocking down confident shots.

At one point in the second half, the Rebels put together a 20-6 run within six minutes to put the game in the deep freezer. Johnson scored nine consecutive points in the middle of the devastating run.

Paraclete had a hard time hitting its shots the entire game. One of the more frustrated players was Matt Marquez, who is usually a deadly shooter from anywhere on the court. He never passed up shots, however, hoping they'd eventually drop. He also tried to get physical inside and crash the boards.

--Deadly shooting: Led by Dionte Huff's 30 points, Lancaster edged Littlerock 67-64 at the Canyon Summer League last Tuesday.

Huff made six 3-pointers and was 8-10 at the free-throw line.

Littlerock was led by Delavar McKee, who had 16 points with four 3-pointers.