Ocean View dominates Orange

A year ago, the Ocean View High boys’ basketball team needed a victory on the final night of the Golden West League season to gain a tie for the league championship.

This year, the Seahawks need no such drama: they have been in cruise control for the past month.

In league play, Ocean View has been unstoppable. That again was the case Friday when the Seahawks dominated visiting Orange, 72-33, to complete a two-game sweep of the Panthers.

The victory also gave the Seahawks, ranked No. 11 in CIF Southern Section 3A, no worse than a share of the GWL title. They own a two-game edge on second-place Loara, a team they defeated Wednesday, with two league games remaining.

Ocean View improved to 8-0 in league and 21-4 overall.

Loara stayed within striking range of Ocean View and improved to 6-2 in league Friday by holding off Santa Ana, 42-39.

“When we played at Loara Wednesday, we came out flat,” Ocean View co-head Coach Tim Walsh said. “We talked about that at practice [Thursday], and our goal tonight was to come out and play focused. I thought we did a great job of that at the start of the game and the start of the second half.”

Against Loara Wednesday, Ocean View started slowly but hit multiple three-point shots in the third quarter to pull away from a 34-28 halftime lead. The Seahawks outscored the Saxons 31-10 in the quarter and went on to a comfortable, 78-43 victory.

They limited Loara to only 17 second-half points and outscored the Saxons 44-17 over the final two quarters.

Ocean View, which held a distinct height advantage on Orange, held to that defensive mode Friday. They didn’t allow the Panthers a point for the first 3:39 of the game. In the meantime, they rolled off 12 unanswered points on offense to take control. They did themselves one better at the outset of the second half by starting the half on a 13-0 run.

In between, they hit the boards, completed fast-breaks and used their entire bench freely.

Ocean View led, 30-7, after one quarter and took its lead to 47-18 at the half. The Seahawks’ largest lead in the half was 31 points (44-13) which came on a layin by sophomore guard Paul Head.

The Seahawks picked up where they had left off after intermission.

In addition to scoring the first 13 points of the second half, they twice built a 45-point cushion and held Orange to only five points in the third quarter which ended with them holding a 66-23 advantage. The Seahawks scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, which used a running clock, to establish their largest lead of the game (72-23) with 3:47 to play.

Orange (0-8 in league) scored the game’s final 10 points and avoided behind held under 30 points again this season by the Seahawks.

Ocean View defeated the Panthers by 40 points in the first league meeting between the teams Jan. 13, 67-27.

Senior guard Zamir Kelly led 10 Seahawks in scoring with 19 points to go along with two assists and two steals. Senior forward Andrew Reynolds had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Head finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists, senior forward Christian Anderson had 10 points and eight rebounds, senior forward Jordan Petty six points and four rebounds, and sophomore guard Bryson Betti three points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists.

The two victories over Orange add to Ocean View’s dominance of their league rivals this year. Through their first eight league games, the Seahawks have won by no fewer than 30 points (a 91-61 win Jan. 27 over Westminster), and have beaten league foes by an average of 36 points a game.

“The one thing we’ve been preaching to our guys is to stay focused,” Walsh said. “The goal is to control our effort which is something we stress every single day. We’ve been up and down in that regard but tonight, we played with focus and I thought we performed well.”

“One thing we’ve done really well in league is that we have been dominating the boards,” Co-head Coach Roger Holmes said. “We’ve also been shooting the ball really well from three-point range. In league, as a team we’ve hit around 40% of our three-point shots.”

Ocean View can sew up an outright league championship with a victory next Wednesday when they travel to face Westminster. A year ago, the Seahawks and Lions shared the GWL title.

Westminster defeated Segerstrom Friday, 45-42.

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Friday Scoreboard

Boys’ Basketball

Golden West League

Ocean View 72, Orange 33

Sunset League

Huntington Beach 55, Edison 52

Marina 65, Fountain Valley 60 (OT)

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Monday’s Schedule

Girls’ Basketball (7 p.m.)

Edison at Fountain Valley

Los Alamitos at Huntington Beach

Marina at Newport Harbor

Ocean View at Westminster (6:30 p.m.)

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Tuesday’s Schedule

Girls’ Basketball (6 p.m.)

Brethren Christian at Sage Hill

Boys’ Basketball (7 p.m.)

Fountain Valley at Edison

Huntington Beach at Los Alamitos

Newport Harbor at Marina

Brethren Christian at Sage Hill (7:30 p.m.)

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Wednesday’s Schedule

Boys’ Basketball (6:30 p.m.)

Ocean View at Westminster

Girls’ Basketball (7 p.m.)

Newport Harbor at Edison

Fountain Valley at Huntington Beach

Marina at Los Alamitos