CV comes all the way back

Central Valley trailed University by eight points midway through the third quarter of this boys basketball rivalry and seemingly had no answer to the Titans’ inside game.

Leading scorers Kevin Cameron and Nick Ambrose had been stymied by U-Hi’s defense, leaving it up to Bears sophomores to shoulder the load.

Then the two seniors snapped out of their funk and CV (4-5) scored 41 points over the game’s final 11 minutes, 30 seconds to earn a 68-56 victory over the Titans (2-7) in Thursday night’s Greater Spokane League contest at CV.

Cameron scored eight straight points in a 45-second span midway through the fourth quarter for a 58-48 lead that broke open the game. He had 14 of his 21 points in the final 8:08.

Ambrose added 11 of his 16 in the last 8:46 to deny the Titans.

“We put it together toward the end,” Cameron said. “They really packed it in on us and had great weak-side help, but in the second half we could reverse the ball more and get it inside.”

Until then, the Bears struggled.

Dixon, Wakem and Martin isn’t a law firm, but posts Ryan Dixon, Nate Martin and reserve Trevor Wakem stated the case of a team seeking its third straight win.

Dixon and Wakem, a pair of 6-foot-4 juniors, combined to score 26 of the Titans’ first 39 points. U-Hi’s biggest lead was 35-27 and the team was still up 39-32 with 10 minutes left. Dixon finished the game with 21.

They joined springy 6-5 Martin in clearing 23 rebounds that often led to transition scores. On defense, the trio frustrated CV’s Ambrose, who couldn’t buy an inside shot.

“It was one of those nights,” Ambrose said. “You have to fight through it.”

Ambrose began to with 46 seconds left in the third quarter, hitting a 15-footer. He added two fourth-quarter baskets plus free throws to give CV its first lead since early in the second period.

“Nick got some 3-point baskets the old fashioned way,” offered CV coach Rick Sloan.

CV was ahead 50-48 when Cameron ran off eight straight points.