Four locals win league crowns

In the final week of the 2010-11 prep basketball regular season, four local teams won league championships.

In girls’ basketball, Edison rolled a perfect 10 — as in, 10-0 — to comfortably win the Sunset League crown. In boy’s basketball, the outcome of league races hinged on what happened the nights of Feb. 10 and last Friday. When the games went into the books, Edison shared the Sunset League title with Los Alamitos, Brethren Christian shared the Academy League title with St. Margaret’s and Ocean View barged in on the final night to forge a three-way tie with Segerstrom and Loara for the Golden West League championship.

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Boys’ Basketball

Edison: With the Sunset League boys’ basketball championship on the line Feb. 10, the Chargers went to Marina High knowing what they needed to do in order to earn a piece of the big prize. How they did it was most impressive. Not showing the stress of what was at stake, the Chargers went about things in a business-like fashion from the get-go.

“We came in here focused and didn’t have any jitters at all,” senior guard Dylan Garrity said. “We knew what we had to do and we really came out on a mission from the start.”

The result? Garrity scored 26 points for the game, Edison scored the first 26 points of the game and the Chargers won comfortably, 70-44. The victory allowed Edison to win a share of the Sunset crown, its first league title in six years. It also was the 24th victory of the season for the Chargers, which is a regular-season record for the program and ties for the most wins in school history for an entire season.

The Chargers (24-2, 8-2 league) have lost just twice this year, to Huntington Beach and Los Alamitos, by a combined three points. They never were in danger of falling a third time against Marina. They eliminated whatever drama there could have been in the game’s first minute when they took a 5-0 lead. That lead continued to balloon throughout the opening quarter and reached its pinnacle at 26-0.

“It’s cool, for sure, to win a championship,” Garrity said. “It would have been nice to win it outright, but to go into the playoffs with the No. 1 seed from our league is a great feeling.”

Dreon Barlett finished with 21 points for Edison. Jordon Adnams scored 12 points to lead Marina, which finished 2-8 in league and saw its season come to an end.

“We came into the year with just three returners and people predicted us to win 12 or 13 games,” Edison Coach Rich Boyce said. “But this team has proved otherwise. It’s a good group of seniors and a good group of kids who play well together. I’m very thrilled for them and what they’ve accomplished.”

Brethren Christian: The Warriors (24-2, 9-1) went on the road Feb. 10 needing a win at Sage Hill to claim a piece of the Academy League title. They got it, taking a 42-22 victory that Coach Jon Bahnsen said was “an ugly game, as I expected.” BC’s defense paved the way and allowed the Lightning just five points in the second half. Senior Riley Thomas led the scoring with 11 points and senior Bobby Frisch added 13 rebounds.

Ocean View: The Seahawks needed a couple of things to happen last week if another Golden West League championship was to come its way. The first was out of the Seahawks’ hands and strictly based on hope. The second was within their control but hinged on the first thing happening. Early Friday night, Ocean View had it both ways.

The Seahawks earned a share of the Golden West title by knocking off Loara, 81-57, at the Ocean View gym. The outcome left Ocean View, Loara and Segerstrom in a three-way tie for the championship.

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” said Ocean View senior guard Billy Keller, who netted a game-high 35 points, a career high, he said. “It feels amazing to end the week with part of a league championship. We needed some things to happen to get there, and they did.”

Ocean View achieved its biggest lead at 27 points (76-49) on a pair of free throws by junior guard Cristian Rivera with 3:25 left. The margin of victory even shocked Seahawks co-head coach Jimmy Harris.

“Did I think we’d win by 24 points, no, absolutely not,” he said. “I was running scenarios in my head during the game, what to run in crunch time. In my mind, I had been preparing strategy from the start of the game to the final buzzer. Never did I think that we’d be taking our starters out midway through the fourth quarter and giving all of our seniors playing time. Was it the ‘ideal’ situation? Absolutely.”

In addition to Keller’s 35, Rivera and Conor Clifford scored 12 points and 11 points, respectively, for Ocean View, which avenged a 78-69 loss Jan. 28 at Loara.

Fountain Valley: The Barons (15-11, 4-6) took visiting Los Alamitos to the wire Feb. 10, but the Griffins held on for a 53-51 victory that gave them a share of the Sunset League title with Edison. Judd Chamma hit five three-point shots en route to 25 points for Fountain Valley, which held a one-point lead with 35 seconds to play.

“We played pretty tough and our defense was better than it has been of late,” Barons Coach Roger Holmes said. “Hopefully, we can carry this effort on into the playoffs.”

Huntington Beach: The Oilers (19-8, 7-3) finished their Sunset League slate Feb. 10 with a 49-42 victory over visiting Newport Harbor on Senior Night, where Tim Francis, Eric Sutton, Che Mitchell-Sorge, Mike Wilgus and Keane Tarrosa all contributed to the win. Twelve Oilers scored, led by Dirk Cason’s 12 points.

“I thought we played great and the kids really enjoyed cheering for one another,” Huntington Beach Fabian Luna said. “We are looking for our third 20-plus win season in the last four years, which Vincent Oe has been a part of the entire time on varsity.”

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Girls’ Basketball

Edison: The Chargers (24-3) put the final touch on a perfect Sunset League season (10-0) when they downed visiting Marina, 73-30, Feb. 10. Karlie Samuelson hit five three-point shots and finished with 22 points and Bonnie Samuelson added 16 points.

Fountain Valley: The Barons ended league play Feb. 10 with a 53-12 loss to Los Alamitos. Fountain Valley (8-18) finished league play at 1-9.

Huntington Beach: The Oilers (22-3, 8-2) wrapped up second place in the Sunset standings by winning, 61-49, at Newport Harbor on Feb. 10. Maya Kennedy hit five three-pointers and led all scorers with 21 points. As a team, the Oilers made 14 three-point shots.

Marina: The Vikings (6-4 league) fell, 73-30, at Edison Feb. 10 and head into the CIF playoffs as the league’s No. 3 team. Sloan Turner had nine points in the loss.

Ocean View: The Seahawks beat Sana Ana, 49-21, on Feb. 10 to finish in a tie for second place in the Golden West League. Francis Oda and Kelli Berry both had nine points for Ocean View, which went 7-3 in league play.