The College of the Canyons men’s basketball team moved into a tie for first place in the Western State Conference standings with an 82-72 win over Citrus College.

The COC men are tied with Citrus College in the conference Southern Division standings.

Rafael Love scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half for COC. He made 15 of 19 free throws in the game.

Wesley Bartole scored 20 points and had 14 rebounds. He scored 15 points in the first half as COC built a 39-34 lead at halftime.

The College of the Canyons women’s basketball team beat Citrus, 84-61, to improve to 6-0 in conference play.

Tinky Dahte scored a team-high 18 points for COC. Kelli Lewis scored 15 points and was 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

COC handed Citrus its first conference loss of the season.

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The Valencia Flyers ice hockey team took two of three games against the Phoenix Polar Bears over the weekend at the Ice Station.

The Flyers lost the first game of the three-game weekend series, 3-1.

Eddie Keshishian had a goal and three assists in the Flyers’ 5-3 win in Game 2 of the series. The Flyers snapped a six-game losing streak with the win.

Cameron Randles scored two goals for the Flyers in a 4-3 win in the third game of the series.

The Flyers travel to Long Beach to face the Bombers in a two-game series starting on Friday night.

The Kings beat the visiting San Jose Sharks, 3-2, in a shootout at Staples Center. Jarrett Stoll scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Kings their third win in a row.

Ryan Smyth scored his 19^th goal of the season and his second in as many games for the Kings. Alexai Ponikarovsky scored the game-tying goal in the second period.

The Kings have a bit of a break with the NHL All-Star game scheduled this weekend. Anze Kopitar is the lone all star from the Kings headed to North Carolina. The next game for the Kings is on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.

It’s a light night a high school and college basketball in the Santa Clarita Valley tonight.

The Santa Clarita Christian boys and girls basketball teams are home against Hillcrest.

The Master’s College men and women’s basketball teams are home against San Diego Christian.

In high school soccer, the Santa Clarita Christian boys are home for a game against Milken. The Santa Clarita Christian girls are on the road for a game against Milken.

NASCAR added a few wrinkles for how it determines its Sprint Cup Series champion. The Chase, the 10-race playoff to determine the Sprint Cup champion driver, remains in place. How drivers qualify for the Chase will be a little different in 2011.

The top 10 drivers in the Sprint Cup standings after 26 races qualify for the Chase. There will be two wild-card spots open to drivers to qualify for the Chase. The next two drivers with the most wins who are not already in the Chase will qualify for the 10-race playoffs.

In addition, the points system for drivers is being altered. Race winners will receive 43 points plus three bonus points for winning the race. The second-place driver will receive 42 points, third place 41 points and so forth.

Speaking of NASCAR, there are a few races this weekend in Southern California.

Canyon High graduate Greg Pursley ended the 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West season with a couple of his best races of the year. He’s hoping he can continue his hot streak in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown this weekend at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

He is entered in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series portion of the Showdown. He won two of the last three races in the K&N Pro Series West season in 2010. He will be looking for his second Showdown win of his career. Pursley won the super late model Showdown race in 2007.

Fillmore’s Travis Thirkettle will also be racing this weekend in the NASCAR super late model race of the Showdown at Irwindale.