Warriors cruise again

Brethren Christian boys' basketball Coach Jon Bahnsen was expecting a battle Tuesday night. Instead, his Warriors won in a blowout.

Brethren Christian took a giant step forward in its bid to claim a fourth consecutive Academy League championship by blitzing past visiting Crean Lutheran, 65-38, at Ocean View High. The win kept the Warriors alone in first place at 7-0. The Saints, who had a chance to move into a first-place tie with a win Tuesday, fell to 5-2 in league and 14-6 overall. The Saints are ranked No. 16 in Division 4A.

"It was a blowout, and I didn't think it would be," Bahnsen said. "I was expecting a real battle from them, but they didn't really come ready to play. We did. We came out red hot and hit our three-point shots."

The Warriors, ranked No. 7 in CIF Division 5AA, never let up. They took a 23-10 lead after the opening quarter, increased it to 45-19 at the half and took a 59-28 advantage to the fourth quarter. They hit 11 three-point shots, eight of them coming in the opening half.

Four BC players scored in double-figures, led by 20 points from 7-foot-5 center Mamadou Ndiaye. Senior guard Billy Bryson, who hit three three-pointers, was next with 17 points. Junior Caleb Keller netted a game-best four three-pointers and finished with 14 points and freshman guard Brandon Bryson had 10 points.

The Warriors won their eighth straight game to improve to 19-5.

Edison: The Chargers stayed in a tie for second place in the Sunset League on Friday with a 62-28 victory against host Newport Harbor.

"Best game we have played from start to finish in a while," said Edison Coach Rich Boyce, whose team is 4-2 in league and entered the week tied for second with Huntington Beach.

Edison (17-5) and Huntington meet in a key league clash at 7 p.m. Friday at Huntington. The Chargers edged the Oilers, 40-38, in their first league meeting Jan. 13.

Fountain Valley: The Barons couldn't find their range against Huntington Beach and lost Friday to the Oilers for the second time in Sunset League play, this time, by a 56-38 score.

Fountain Valley shot just 12 of 55 from the field.

"We came out flat, didn't hit our shots and lost our confidence early and didn't recover," Barons Coach Roger Holmes said. "We were just not there. We've had a habit this year of falling behind early in league games."

Junior guard Josh Armstrong scored 10 points and junior forward Tanner Trounce finished with nine points for the Barons (14-7, 3-3 league), who host Marina at 7 p.m. Friday.

Huntington Beach: The Oilers led from start to finish Friday in a 56-38 win over the host Barons.

Huntington, which improved to 4-2 in league and 13-10 overall, scored the first seven points of the game, first five points of the second quarter and first 10 points of the second half to take command. The Oilers, who led by as many as 20 points, were paced offensively by junior guard Andrew Tenbrink, who led all scorers with 20 points. Senior guard Rory Aldana scored 15 points and junior forward Harley Ruder had 14 points.

"I thought our kids played really well," said Huntington Coach Fabian Luna who collected his 101st career win at Huntington.

Marina: The Vikings fell behind early at Los Alamitos on Friday, played the Griffins on even terms in the second half but still fell, 73-58, in Sunset League action. Senior guard JJ James' 21 points topped all scorers and senior guard Jordon Adnams had 16 points.

Ocean View: The Seahawks moved two steps closer to repeating as Golden West League champions after scoring league wins over Westminster and Orange. They also started the week as the new No. 1 team in CIF Southern Section Division 2AA.

On Friday, Ocean View raced to a 41-point first quarter and went on to cruise past visiting Orange, 90-45. Senior guard Robby Weaver scored a game-high 18 points for the Seahawks, who had 12 players reach the scoring column. The victory upped Ocean View's win streak to 13 games and gave the Seahawks (19-3, 7-0) a two-game lead in the standings with three games to play.

On Jan. 25, Ocean View struggled early against Westminster and trailed, 33-22, at halftime, but the locals rallied in the second half to pull out a 60-53 win. The Seahawks, who outscored the Lions, 21-10, in the third quarter, got 18 points and seven rebounds from senior Cristian Rivera, 14 points from senior center Conor Clifford and seven assists from junior guard Josh Misler.