ANAHEIM — The Crestview League boys basketball opener between Villa Park and Canyon on Friday at Canyon High School was played at a frenetic pace for most of the first half.

But because of missed shots and turnovers by both teams, the low score didn’t match the fast pace.

The contest was played at a more controlled pace in the third quarter and that’s when the Comanches began to take control.

Canyon led by five at the half, then extended the lead to 11 in the third quarter and while the home team had some difficulty putting the game away down the stretch, the Comanches had enough of a cushion to hold on for a 54-50 victory.

“Yeah, it was sloppy,” Canyon coach Nate Harrison said. “Big crowd and a big game. I felt like we took control of the game in the third quarter and then just turnovers late allowed them to stay in the game, but yeah, I’m proud of our kids.”

The victory is the eighth in a row for the Comanches (16-4, 1-0), who have won the past three without their leading scorer Jaden Goodall.

Harrison had no information Friday on the nature of Goodall’s injury or how long he will be sidelined.

“We don’t know what the prognosis is yet,” Harrison said. “So we’ve been battling. He’s important to us and we’ve just been battling to keep our head above water.”

Josh Goodall, Jaden’s twin brother and Canyon’s second-leading scorer, has picked much of the slack during his brother’s absence.

Josh Goodall scored 20 points to lead Canyon on Friday, including back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Comanches a 37-26 lead midway through the third quarter.

Canyon led by 11 early in the fourth quarter when the Spartans (11-11, 0-1) went on a 9-2 run and were within four with 2:32 remaining.

A pair of free throws by Staf Yilmazturk gave the Comanches a seven-point lead with 40 seconds remaining, which was too much of a deficit for the Spartans.

Harrison had plenty of praise for Villa Park’s Malakhi Johnson, who scored 10 of his team-leading 19 points in the fourth quarter.

“A lot of credit to Malakhi, who just played a phenomenal basketball game,” Harrison said. “That kid really wanted it. He played really hard and played with his heart.”

Villa Park coach Kevin Reynolds said his team accomplished its goal defensively, which was to hold Canyon to under 55 points.

A long scoring draught by the Spartans in the first half was a key factor in the loss, Reynolds said.

“I thought we had shots but we couldn’t make them,” Reynolds said. “We thought we would get a little more offense than we did.”

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