Head of the class at Ocean View

With 25 league titles, two CIF Southern Section championships and even a few alumni reaching the professional ranks, Ocean View High boasts one of the richest boys’ basketball programs in Orange County.

Yet as the 2017-18 season got underway, only one former Seahawk, 2010 graduate Avery Johnson, had accomplished the rare feat of winning four league championships at the varsity level.

Ocean View senior Paul Head joined this elite company in February, as the team wrapped up a fourth straight Golden West League title, the last three were undefeated runs. For the 6-foot-2 guard, the reality of his achievement is still setting in.

“Honestly, I’m a little speechless,” Head said. “My coach told me about it toward the end of league. I didn’t know what to say or think about it because Ocean View’s history is pretty amazing. There are a lot of great players that have come through here. It’s a blessing.”

While the Seahawks finished the regular season with a comfortable three-game lead over their closest league competition, their latest title did not come without adversity.

One week following a loss to Cholla, from Tucson, Ariz., in the Sabino Holiday Tournament in Tucson, Ocean View was handed an 88-77 defeat at Cypress in the final tune-up before league play. This would mark the Seahawks’ only double-digit loss of the season, but most concerning, it also signaled the loss of a key veteran.

Five minutes into the contest, senior forward Nathaniel Washington suffered an apparent concussion when his head slammed to the court following a dunk. Washington would go on to miss all of league play, before receiving medical clearance just in time for the postseason.

While still the team to beat in league, Ocean View had hit a roadblock. And as co-coaches Tim Walsh and Roger Holmes would acknowledge, Head answered the call in a major way.

“When games were close and things got tough, he was really the guy we counted on,” Walsh said. “He definitely played his best in the games that were most competitive. We asked a lot of him to step up and make plays, and he did.”

There was no better example of this than in the Seahawks’ two showdowns with rival Westminster, which three years ago handed Ocean View the only league loss during Head’s tenure.

In the first meeting with Westminster on Jan. 17, Ocean View cruised to a 74-53 road win behind a 35-point, eight-assist, seven-rebound and three-block shot performance from Head.

Two weeks later, the Seahawks downed their rival 87-72 to claim a fourth straight league title. Head drilled nine three-pointers, one short of his own school record, en route to a 40-point night. He also added nine rebounds, six assists, four steals and one block.

“It’s fun to watch when he gets it going,” Walsh said. “He’s a great shooter all the time, but every once in a while he gets in this mode where the basket looks huge for him and everything falls. This year when he scored 40 against Westminster, I look back on the look in his eye. Everything that went up in the air you knew was good when it left his hands. It was like watching a video game.”

As Head’s time at Ocean View ended with a 67-58 loss to Palmdale Knight in the quarterfinals of the Division 3AA playoffs last week, another decision also inches closer. A future at the collegiate level awaits the sharp-shooting guard, who is deciding between San Francisco State, Cal State East Bay, Concordia University Portland and Arizona Christian.

“He’s really coachable, which is going to help him at the next level,” Holmes said of Head, who averaged 17 points, 5.2 assists, four rebounds, 2.6 three-pointers and 1.9 steals per game. “Any different things we put in he picks up right away. Like they say, ‘Coach on the floor,’ he’s kind of evolved into that. Sometimes he just calls stuff, and they’re great calls. Because he’s played so much he has a great understanding of the game and what needs to happen at any given moment out there.”

In addition to helping bring four league titles to Ocean View (24-5, 10-0 in league), Head has also helped prepared the hands that he is leaving the program in.

Holmes is quick to mention that he always makes time to shoot around with the freshmen, while also working after practice with varsity freshman Slater Miller. Over the past four years, he has evolved in to the type of person Walsh and Holmes tell lower-level players to look up to as a role model.

It’s the moments away from the court that Head’s coaches enjoy just as much as his magical nights on it.

“I’ve seen some incredible players come through this program,” Walsh said. “It’s saying a lot. I think about the guy he is with, Avery Johnson, who played for us for four years, and had the chance to play at San Francisco, UC Davis and overseas for a while. Avery was a great athlete, but like Paul, he was also just a great human. It’s something special to have guys that are that good on and off the floor. I think it’s pretty awesome that they share that honor.”

JOSH CRISWELL is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @joshccriswell