Boys’ basketball: West Valley is victorious in overtime

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

This guy, Joe Burton, is the real deal.

The 6-foot-8, 280-plus pound junior from Hemet West Valley showed several glimpses of his tremendous upside during Saturday’s Southern Section Division III-A championship game, finishing with 23 points and 17 rebounds in a 90-80 overtime victory over Perris at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

‘He sets the standard for us. He’s our big buy, and in big games, you have to go to the big guy,’’ Mustangs coach Chuck Peebles said of Burton, who played the final 16 minutes, including the extra session, with four fouls. The underclassman is being recruited by Florida, UCLA and USC.

Burton had help. Plenty of help. John Balwigaire scored 24 of his game-high 30 points in the second half and Eric Lawton added 21 points to secure the title, the first ever for West Valley in any sport. But make no mistake, without Burton, the outcome would’ve been different -- no doubt about it.

--Sean Ceglinsky