Chargers coming together nicely

Team work. It’s what led the Edison boys’ basketball team to the Irvine World News Gary Raya Classic title.

In the tournament championship game Saturday at University High, Edison defeated Tesoro, 65-51. The Chargers outscored the Titans by 20 points (38-18) during the second and third quarters to take control. Dylan Garrity posted a game-high 26 points to lead four Chargers in double figures. Dreon Barlett scored 13 points and Zach Bauer and Kris Wolfe each scored 12.

Edison advanced to the title game by defeating North Torrance, 69-57, in Friday’s semifinals. Garrity lit up the scoreboard for 30 points and Barlett and Bauer scored 17 and 13 points, respectively.

Garrity was named tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Barlett and Bauer both made the all-tournament team.

“I think we are really doing a great job right now of playing as a team,” Edison Coach Rich Boyce said. “Everyone is contributing, all 13 players, in some way or form, and it’s great to watch. We’re just a very good team right now.”

Edison (9-0) takes on Tustin at 3:30 p.m. today in the Orange County North/South Challenge at El Toro High. Next week, the Chargers are in Palm Desert to compete at the Desert Heat Invitational. They’ll take on Desert Hot Springs in a first-round game at 7 p.m. Monday.

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In other boys’ basketball action:

Brethren Christian: The Warriors collected two more nonleague victories last week, defeating Eastside Christian, 55-31, on Dec. 15, and Pacifica Christian, 68-48, on Friday. Senior guards Danny Healy and Riley Thomas led the way during the two wins. Healy had 21 points, eight steals, five assists and three blocks against Eastside and followed with 15 points, 13 assists and six steal against Pacifica Christian. Thomas had 13 points and seven steals against Eastside and 20 points against Pacifica. He is still shooting 90% from the free throw line on the season.

Senior forward Bobby Frisch had 12 rebounds in each of the two victories.

Brethren Christian, now 9-1, takes on Saddleback Valley Christian today at the North/South Challenge at El Toro High. The Warriors leave the day after Christmas to play in the Kona (Hawaii) tournament that begins Monday and runs through Dec. 31.

Fountain Valley: The Barons had their nonleague game Monday at Katella cancelled due to a “leaky roof,” Coach Roger Holmes said.

Fountain Valley will take on San Clemente at 2 p.m. today at the Orange County North/South Challenge at El Toro High. Next week, they’ll be in Prescott Valley, Ariz., for the Alvarez Tire Classic. The Barons, the lone team from California in the 18-team tournament, open pool play Monday against two Arizona schools, Camp Verde and Catalina.

“I have been to this tournament before and they do a great job,” Holmes said. “The whole community comes out to watch the games and really supports the tournament.”

Huntington Beach: The Oilers whipped former Sunset League foe Esperanza, 70-44, Saturday, the final day of the 24-team North Orange County Championships tournament. Three Oilers scored in double-figures, led by Dirk Cason’s 19 points. Rory Aldana had 16 points and Jordan Reise scored 11 points.

Oilers Coach Fabian Luna called his team’s performance a “complete team effort and definitely our best game of the year to this point.”

Huntington began the tournament with an 83-67 victory against Bell Gardens, with Reise leading the way with 23 points and Cason adding 12 points. The Oilers then fell, 65-56, to Ayala, despite 20 points from Aldana, 11 from Andrew Tenbrink and 10 from Reise. Following the tough loss to the Bulldogs, Luna said the Oilers came out “really flat” against Long Beach Wilson and fell, 56-52, to the Bruins.

Luna shook up his starting lineup for Huntington’s next game against Compton Centennial, starting a few players who hadn’t played a minute in their three previous tournament games. The Oilers, he said, played ragged for three quarters but “turned it on” in the fourth quarter, where they outscored the Apaches, 24-8, to pull out a 61-49 victory. Aldana led Huntington with 22 points and Reise had 10 points.

“The way we played that fourth (quarter) is what we can play like. We defended and got into transition offense,” Luna said.

The Oilers compete next week at the Orange Holiday Classic at Chapman University and take on Westminster in a 9 a.m. first-round game Monday.

Marina: The Vikings scored a 70-54 nonleague win Monday against visiting Sage Hill. J.J. James had a game-high 20 points, Matt Swartz had 16 points and Gediminas Vegys hit four three-point shots and finished with a career-high 16 points. Vikings Coach Jerry Simon said Johnathan Rothschild played “great defense.”

In previous action, the Vikings played Irvine in the consolation championship game Saturday at the Charlie Wilkins Classic at Westminster High falling, 64-53. James had 16 points and Swartz 15 points for Marina, which dropped its tournament opener Dec. 13 to Trabuco Hills (52-40) but came back to down both Calvary Chapel/Santa Ana (68-57) and Laguna Hills (54-52) to advance to the consolation championship.

Ocean View: The Seahawks won the Fairmont Prep tournament title Saturday by defeating host Fairmont Prep in the championship game, 69-56. Junior guard Cristian Rivera and senior guard Billy Keller tied for game-high scoring honors with 21 points apiece and sophomore guard Josh Mishler had 14 points.

Ocean View defeated Magnolia (58-37), Walnut (54-50) and Pacifica (76-61) to reach the title game.

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Girls’ Basketball

Brethren Christian: The Warriors won their ninth consecutive game and in the process captured the Orangewood Academy Spartan Classic title Saturday with a 42-27 victory against host Orangewood Academy.

In the final, the Warriors — who Coach Jeff Wallace said didn’t play their “best offensive performance of the tournament” — used balanced scoring and a tenacious defense to earn the 15-point win. Seven players scored, led by Rebekah Rudd, who had 11 points and hit all five of her free throws. Sophomore Sara Hodges scored nine points and Kirsten Sakata added seven points. Madison Desler scored five points and had 15 rebounds and held Orangewood’s second-leading scorer without a point.

Desler and Hodges were named to the five-member all-tournament team.

The Warriors started the tournament Dec. 14 and beat Eastside Christian, 49-23. Desler, who hit five three-point shots and Sakata, who hit three three-pointers, each scored 15 points. The next day, Brethren Christian scored a 46-28 win against Vaughn High of the San Fernando Valley. Desler again had 15 points behind four three-point shots, Sakata posted 10 points and Kate Jensen contributed six points in a second-straight solid effort.

In the semifinals Dec. 16, the Warriors took on St. Aquinas, another CIF Division 5 foe, and avenged last year’s tournament loss to the Falcons by taking a convincing 63-42 victory. Desler and Sakata both hit four three-pointers and finished with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Rudd scored 11 points.

“This has been a very productive first three weeks to open the season,” Wallace said. “We are playing games in a very productive fashion on the offensive side of the ball, while being very stingy defensively. That is a very desirable position to be night in and night out.”

The Warriors travel north next week to Antioch to play in the West Coast Jamboree. They open tourney play at 8:30 p.m. Monday against Bret Harte of Angels Camp.

Edison: The undefeated Chargers, the top-ranked team in CIF Division 1A, rode a big first quarter to defeat Windward of Los Angeles, 58-53, Tuesday at the NIKE Tournament of Champions/Phoenix. Bonnie Samuelson nailed seven three-point shots and poured in 32 points, Karlie Samuelson scored 11 points and Monay Lee had 10 points for Edison, which jumped out to a 15-4 first-quarter lead.

The win moved the Chargers into the Anderson Division championship game Wednesday against Etiwanda at Chandler, Ariz., the result of which wasn’t available by press time.

In a tournament game played Monday, Edison knocked off Xavier College Prep of Arizona, 60-42. Bonnie Samuelson’s 19 points topped all scorers and the senior also grabbed 10 rebounds. The Chargers also had Rilee Horton and Karlie Samuelson in double-figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Huntington Beach: The Oilers are in Chandler, Ariz., playing in the NIKE Tournament of Champions/Phoenix. On Tuesday, Huntington upended Rosary, 49-40, to move on to the Red Division championship game Wednesday against Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth, the result of which wasn’t available by press time.

Maya Kennedy had 15 points and five rebounds, Kelsey Minato had 10 points and eight rebounds and Sasha Mancisador led the Oilers in the rebounding department.

On Monday, Huntington, ranked 10th in CIF Division 2AA, defeated Newport High of Washington, 57-27. Minato scored 14 points and Danielle Kennedy had 13 points in a game where Coach Russ McClurg said his team set a new school record with 12 three-pointers.

The Oilers rolled to a 55-32 victory Saturday against Mesquite High in an opening-round game of the tournament. Kennedy had 15 points and Minato added 14 points for Huntington.

On Dec. 16, Huntington routed Century, 70-32, in nonleague play. Freshman Paola Roa hit three three-point shots and finished with a career-high 17 points and Minato topped all scorers with 19 points.

Ocean View: The Seahawks dropped their final game at their own Hawk Holiday Classic on Saturday, falling, 62-47, to Western. Mari Shigemasa scored 19 points and Courtney Okwudibonye had 14 points for Ocean View.

Bonita won the championship by defeating Mission Viejo, 59-50, in Saturday’s championship game.

Fountain Valley: The Barons wrapped up play Saturday at the Ocean View Hawk Holiday Classic tournament with a 51-41 victory against Whittier Christian. Leslie La had 19 points and Christine Tran 15 points for Fountain Valley. On Dec. 17, the Barons scored a 60-49 tournament win against L.A. Locke.