Oceanside Moves Into Avocado Tie

Make some room at the top of the Avocado League standings for Oceanside. The Pirates moved into a tie for first with idle El Camino Wednesday night by notching a 54-44 win over Ramona in a defensive showdown.

“It’s nice to turn the corner and still be in the hunt,” said Oceanside Coach Bill Christopher, who saw his Pirates improve to 5-1 in league play (11-5 overall).

The Pirates and Bulldogs are noted as being stingy with the points. Oceanside’s defense allows an average of about 45 points a game, while Ramona’s surrenders not much more than 48.

The Pirates were a bit stingier on this night. But Ramona Coach Larry Bringham said Oceanside’s home-court advantage didn’t hurt either.

“We’ve already played El Camino and Oceanside on their home courts and lost,” Bringham said. “They were pretty good there. But now they’ve got to play us in Ramona and we’ll be ready for them.”

The Bulldogs (4-2, 10-6) remained in second place with the loss.

Oceanside jumped out to an 8-2 lead with 4:21 remaining in the first period. Guard Tim Prim led the early surge by scoring six points. He finished as the game’s leading scorer with 20.

However, the Bulldogs’ Rob Cronic answered with six points before the end of the first period to tie it at 11.

But by halftime, Oceanside had again taken the lead. With 2:12 left in the half and the score tied at 21, reserve Greg Goodman came off the bench to score six straight points, giving his team a 27-21 lead.

Again, Ramona fought back, thanks to some tough defense, to trail 32-31 at the end of the third period. But it was outscored, 22-13, in the fourth. The Pirates made 7 of 10 free throws and Prim broke free for some key layups on the fast break down the stretch to preserve the win.

Besides Prim’s 20 points, the Pirates got scoring help from Goodman, who finished with 10, and Junior Seau, who had nine. For Ramona, Cronic had 14 points, Mike Pendell, 3 and Don MacInnes 10.