Edison reaches Beach Bash final
Rich Boyce has a long Saturday ahead of him. Boyce will wear many hats, from dad, to friend, to coach, to athletic director, and he is looking forward to all of them.
First, Boyce will go watch his son, Kyle, play on the Edison High freshman boys’ basketball team at a tournament in Santa Ana at 12:45 p.m., then go coach the Edison varsity boys’ basketball team in the Corona del Mar Beach Bash final at 4, before attending a former player’s wedding reception in Costa Mesa around 5:45, then he has to hustle to get to the Edison football game at 7:30 at Cap Sheue Field. Boyce hopes his night ends with the Chargers earning their first trip to a CIF State football final.
The first championship Boyce wants to celebrate on Saturday is the one in basketball. His Chargers advanced the Beach Bash finale for the first time in the tournament’s five-year history, doing so rather easily.
Matt Serven led the way, finishing with 23 points in Edison’s 62-42 win against JSerra on Friday.
Serven, along with Randall Walker (19 points) and Nate Matthews (15), got the Chargers off to a fast start. Each of them had seven points in the first quarter, accounting for almost all of the team’s 22 points.
After the first eight minutes, Edison led, 22-5. The Chargers shot 62% in the opening quarter, compared to JSerra only making two of 17 shots.
“If we can get off to that kind of start all the time, it would make life a lot easier,” Boyce said. “The reason we got out well was because I thought we defended so well. We let them back in a couple of times, but to our credit, I don’t think we ever let them cut it to 10.”
The Chargers slowed down Princeton-bound forward Sebastian Much, who didn’t have much in terms of points in the first half. The 6-foot-8 senior had two points, missing eight of nine shots through the first two quarters.
Josh Phillips, Edison’s 6-8 big man, made things difficult for Much, who wound up with 11 points.
The closest JSerra got to Edison after the first quarter was 12 points. The Lions scored nine of the first 11 points in the second half, trimming the deficit to 42-30.
Serven helped push the Edison lead back to 16 late in the third quarter. The senior had two putbacks, and he banked a shot in from near the free-throw line, allowing him to finish 10-of-16 shooting.
To start the fourth quarter, Matthews knocked down a three-pointer 42 seconds in. It was his third three. Three points are all the Chargers allowed in the fourth, marking the second time in a quarter that they held JSerra to single-digits. The Lions (2-1) were without a handful of transfers, including Joel Mensah, a 6-10 junior from Ghana.
Edison (3-0) was moving on to face Bellflower St. John Bosco (3-0) in the final. The Braves beat San Bernardino Cajon, 65-54, in the semifinals on Friday.
The matchup features an Edison program that made the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA finals last season, its second straight trip the big game, and a St. John Bosco program that was a Division 1AA semifinalist last season.
The Beach Bash championship game was initially set for 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, but Boyce said he contacted CdM Coach Ryan Schachter and asked if it was possible to play it earlier because Edison’s football team has its CIF State Southern California Regional Division 1-A Bowl Game against San Clemente that same day at 7:30. As Edison’s athletic director, Boyce has to be there on the sideline.
Things worked out for Boyce. Now Boyce has to figure out what to wear for his basketball team’s Beach Bash finale.
“I might have to wear a [collared dress] shirt and tie for the game,” said Boyce, adding that he might not have time to change before the wedding reception for his former player, Cody Boswell. “I want Cody to know that I care about him.”
CdM Beach Bash
Semifinals
Edison 62, JSerra 42
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Edison 22 – 18 – 14 – 8 — 62
JSerra 5 – 16 – 18 – 3— 42
E – M. Serven 23, Walker 19, Matthews 15, Phillips 4, S. Serven 1.
3-pt. goals – Matthews 3, M. Serven 3.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
J – Much 11, Ursetta 11, Alvarado 9, McClintock 5, Fakhimi 5, Cosic 1.
3-pt. goals – Ursetta 3, McClintock 1, Fakhimi 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
