SOPHOMORES HELP A.V. OVERCOME MISTAKES : AVC 94, DESERT 92.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer

Sophomores John Burrell and Trevor Beal admit to making some of the same mistakes that have plagued Antelope Valley College's talented freshmen class.

``We're not exactly the most mature team in the world. But we're getting better at it,'' Burrell said of a Marauders team that did everything it could to keep College of the Desert afloat in a showdown for first place in the Foothill Conference's North Division.

But AVC canceled out several potentially devastating errors with clutch free-throw shooting and offensive rebounding to seal a 94-92 win Wednesday over the Roadrunners and clinch no less than a share of a fourth consecutive conference championship.

The Marauders (6-1, 20-9) trailed just once after they bolted to a 14-2 lead, but as they have so many times this season, they kept coach Newton Chelette scrambling.

A pair of second-half missed dunks, untimely fouls and 22 turnovers were overcome by AVC, as were the 40 points scored by Desert guard Greg Hendricks, who buried an almost length-of-the-court shot at the buzzer to narrow the final margin to two.

``There's never going to be a perfect game. We're going to make mistakes,'' said Chelette, reaching the 20-win plateau for the ninth consecutive season. ``But for one of the first times this year, they were holding themselves accountable for their mistakes.''

With Desert (5-2, 16-13) surging at the end, the Marauders' lone returning players off last season's 30-5 state quarterfinalist, Beal and Burrell, came up big with five free throws in the final 24.8 seconds.

Burrell led five Marauders in double figures with 27. AVC can wrap up the conference title with a win at Cerro Coso in the regular-season finale on Saturday night.