Sunset League : Coenen’s 27 Points Lead Edison Past Fountain Valley

The score on the scoreboard when the game ended in the Fountain Valley High School gym read 68-61 in favor of Edison.

The actual final score was 67-61, still in favor of Edison--the scorekeeper accidentally credited the Chargers’ with an extra point when an Edison player missed a free throw with 16 seconds to play.

Such an error may be forgiven considering that Edison scored early and often and when it finally ended, it all added up to a very big Sunset League victory for the Chargers.

Edison, Fountain Valley, and Huntington Beach had each entered Wednesday’s league play with 2-1 records behind unbeaten Ocean View.

By evening’s end, Ocean View, a big winner over Huntington Beach, was still on top, but it was Edison and not defending league-champion Fountain Valley, that emerged as Ocean View’s nearest rival.

Edison (3-1 in league, 11-4 overall) surprised Fountain Valley with some devastating shooting in the first half, ran up a big lead in the second half, and then hung on to withstand a furious rally that brought the Barons to within two points late in the game.

Understandably, Edison Coach Jon Borchert was elated after the game.

“That was our best game by far,” he said. “Except for a few mental mistakes there at the end (when Fountain Valley rallied), it was almost error-free for us.”

Particularly outstanding for Edison was 6-foot-4-inch senior forward Baron Coenen, who out-muscled the larger Barons at every opportunity and took control for the Chargers when the Barons rallied.

Coenen’s two free throws with 32 seconds left gave Edison, which had a 13-point lead just two minutes earlier, a four-point margin at 65-61, and after Fountain Valley missed its next shot, there was Coenen to grab the rebound and even though he missed his ensuing free throw, the game was all but over.

Coenen led all scorers with 27 points. Carlos Briceno and Brent Martin scored 18 apiece for Fountain Valley.

Edison hit 15 of 22 shots (68%) in the first half when it took a 31-22 halftime lead, a lead that Fountain Valley, which shot 45% from the floor for the game, could never quite overcome.