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Boys’ Basketball Roundup: Chargers strike back

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Turn around was fair play, indeed, in this rivalry game between Edison High and Fountain Valley.

When the teams met in the opening round of the Sunset League boys’ basketball race, Fountain Valley scored the final 13 points of the Jan. 16 game to pull out a 63-58 road victory. That win helped solidify the Barons as keepers of first place in the league standings.

Tuesday at Fountain Valley, it was Edison who had the final say, as the Chargers scored the game’s final 12 points to wipe out a four-point deficit to emerge with a 57-49 triumph.

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The Chargers’ win prevented Fountain Valley from clinching an outright league title, and made Thursday’s final games of the league and regular season, vital, for three league teams.

The Barons, who already have a share of the Sunset League title in hand, close out the regular season with a home game Thursday against Marina. They hold a one-game lead over both Edison and Los Alamitos, which on Tuesday held off Huntington Beach, 58-52. The Chargers play host to Huntington Thursday, while Los Al plays at home against Newport Harbor.

All games tip at 7 p.m.

In Tuesday’s other Sunset game, Marina was outscored by 12 points in the second half by Newport Harbor and lost, 58-46, to the host Sailors.

Also Tuesday, Brethren Christian repeated as Academy League champion by winning, 58-40, at St. Margaret’s.

Fountain Valley took a 49-45 lead on Edison after a jumper by senior guard Josh Armstrong, who led all scorers with 24 points, with 4:13 left to play. Armstrong’s shot turned out to be the final points of the game for the Barons who fell to 7-2 in league and 19-6 overall.

Sophomore forward AJ Garrity ignited Edison’s 12-0 final run by hitting a floater with 2:40 remaining. Then, sophomore guard Jake Haar delivered a couple of daggers when he hit a pair of three-pointers, from opposite corners, within a 19-second span. The shots, which gave Haar 16 points on the night, put the Chargers (16-10, 6-3 in league) in front for good at 53-49.

Garrity, who led the Chargers with 16 points, sank four free throws in the final 41 seconds to secure the win.

“It was a great basketball game, and that’s a great team we beat tonight,” Edison Coach Rich Boyce said. “We lost to them that first time, so I guess we owed them one. Jake [Haar], who usually starts, hit those huge shots for us. He was outstanding off the bench.

“Our guys never gave up when we were behind. They kept pushing, pushing and pushing, and fought to the very end. We’re happy to get out of here with a win.”

Fountain Valley Coach Roger Holmes knew the Sunset League race would be tight throughout the league season.

It’s turned out to be.

“If you don’t come to play every night in this league, you’ll get beat,” he said. “We didn’t come to play tonight. We weren’t sharp all game, and we could tell that during warm-ups. We were just out of it, from the start.”

Huntington (15-10, 4-5) faced a 10-point first-quarter deficit against Los Alamitos and played from behind in an eventual, 58-52 loss to the Griffins on senior night for the Oilers. Senior forward Harley Ruder led all scorers with 30 points and junior guard Ryan Morrissey scored 10 points.

Marina (7-18, 1-8) was in a 26-26 halftime tie with Newport Harbor, but ended up falling, 58-46. Sophomore guard Greg Fronek led the Vikings with 16 points.

Fountain Valley had clinched a share of the Sunset title, the program’s first since 1995, by surviving host Los Alamitos, 79-72, in double overtime Friday. The Griffins took a one-point lead with six seconds left in regulation but Armstrong hit a free throw with 1.6 seconds left, to send the game to overtime. The Barons took control by scoring the first nine points of the second overtime.

Armstrong scored 29 points, getting 22 of them in the second half and overtime periods. He also had eight assists and seven rebounds. Senior center Jackson Gatlin had 19 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks, senior forward Tanner Trounce hit four three-point shots for 17 points with 10 rebounds, senior guard Danny Chamaa had seven points and three steals, and senior forward Joey Petersen had four points, 16 rebounds and five assists.

Edison also emerged with a double-overtime victory Friday when the Chargers pulled out a 66-63 win over visiting Marina. Sophomore guard Brae Ivey scored a game-high 20 points to lead four Chargers in double figures. Senior center Trenton Aschoff had 11 points and Garrity and sophomore guard Derek Molina both scored 10 points.

Huntington fell behind host Newport Harbor by 10 points at halftime Friday, rallied in the second half came, but up short in a 63-60 loss to the Sailors. Senior guard Andrew TenBrink scored 23 points and Ruder added 13 points.

Marina Coach Nick Racklin’s squad had come close to breaking into the win column in several previous league games, and the Vikings finally broke through on Jan. 30 when they upset visiting Huntington, 62-55, in overtime. Senior forward Casey Hayes led the way with 15 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Hayden Winks and junior guard Derek Mallard both scored 13 points. Mallard had a big dish to Hayes that led to a basket toward the end of regulation that took the game to overtime.

Fronek had nine points and hit two, huge three-pointers at the end of regulation and overtime.

“What a treat for our guys to beat Huntington on senior night,” Racklin said. “It was a back and forth game, but we stuck with the process and held on. I am very proud of our guys and if they can keep playing the spoiler role, we may have a fun last two weeks of the season.”

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Brethren Christian: The Warriors sewed up their fifth-consecutive Academy League title Tuesday by pulling away from host St. Margaret’s in the second half of a key league battle, and defeated the Tartans, 58-40.

Senior center Mamadou Ndiaye led all scorers with 18 points and collected 14 rebounds for BC, which is 9-0 in league and 21-3 overall. Junior guard Caleb Keller went 10 for 10 from the foul line and scored 16 points, and freshman forward Cameron Griffin scored 11 points.

The St. Margaret’s win capped a busy six-day period for BC which played four games in that span.

The Warriors won two other league contests in the past week. On Jan. 31, Ndiaye poured in 40 points and Griffin scored 16 in BC’s 81-65 win over visiting Crean Lutheran. On Saturday, Ndiaye had 35 points, in a little more than two quarters of play, and senior forward Dakota Warren hit four three-pointers and scored 14 points, in a 77-47 win over visiting Whitney.

In between the two league games, BC played Friday at the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High, BC defeated Servite, 50-34. Ndiaye netted a game-high 34 points as the Warriors held the Friars to 13 points in the second half.

In BC’s last four games, Ndiaye scored 154 points to go with 69 rebounds and nine blocked shots.

“Mamadou stepped up his game last week at the most important time of our season,” BC Coach Jon Bahnsen said. “He carried us against Servite, but the whole team deserves credit for one of the biggest wins [against Servite] in Brethren Christian boys’ basketball history. We will be a tough matchup for any team in the [CIF] playoffs.”

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Ocean View: The Seahawks played Saturday at the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High, and routed Durango of Las Vegas, 88-68. Sophomore guard Tyler Burch led all scorers with 24 points. Junior forward Dillon Reise scored 18 points and had nine rebounds, and sophomore guard Kendall Small had 18 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and six steals.

Twelve hours before facing Durango, Ocean View maintained a one-game lead in the Golden West League race by pulling away in the fourth quarter to defeat visiting Westminster Friday, 57-42. Small scored 16 points and Reise, who hit four three-pointers, finished with 15 points.

The Seahawks, who held a one-game lead in the league standings over Loara, played Wednesday at Orange. The score wasn’t available at press time.

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CIF Southern Section Boys’ Basketball Weekly Rankings

Division 1-A: Huntington Beach, No. 12; Edison, No. 14.

Division 3-A: Ocean View, No. 4.

Division 5-AA: Brethren Christian, tie-No. 4.

michael.sciacca@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeSciacca

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