Sunset League : Martin Sets Scoring Mark as Fountain Valley Rolls

Few in the crowd in the Fountain Valley High School gym realized that when the Barons’ Brent Martin left the game for a substitute with 1:57 to play, Martin was the new school single-game scoring leader.

Martin scored 39 points, eclipsing the old record of 36 set by Roger Holmes in 1977, to lead the Barons to a 73-57 rout of Huntington Beach Friday night.

“I didn’t realize that (Martin had set the record) or I would’ve left him in there,” Fountain Valley Coach Dave Brown conceded afterward. “We did a much better job of being patient (with shot selection). Martin did a real good job of getting the ball up.”

Playing a nearly flawless game, Martin hit 13 of 17 from the field and 13 of 15 at the free throw line, as well as grabbing 10 rebounds, to keep the Barons in the hunt for both a playoff berth and possibly the league title as well.

Martin’s scoring outburst couldn’t have come at a better time for Fountain Valley (3-2 in league, 11-7 overall), considering that the Barons were upended Wednesday by Edison and must play league-leading Ocean View on Friday.

Despite the final score, Huntington Beach (2-3, 7-9) was in the game for three quarters, but the Oilers could neither come up with the firepower they needed on offense nor figure out a way to shut down Martin on defense.

The Oilers consistently sagged two and three defenders on the Barons’ 6-foot 8-inch senior center, but Carlos Briceno and Eric Zeno played just well enough to keep the Oilers honest.

Briceno scored 12 points, mostly on long outside shots, and Zeno got his points underneath the basket. Together with Martin, the trio also presented a defense that stifled most of the Oilers’ efforts to penetrate the ball to the basket.

“We played real hard defensively,” Brown noted. “We just had a hard time shaking them.”

Brown’s point is taken in that several of Martin’s baskets came off of fast breaks triggered by steals. Martin is a very mobile big man, one who works hard at both ends of the floor and doesn’t try to shoot outside of his range. He is most effective about 10-12 feet from the basket.

In helping to stake the Barons to a 32-23 halftime lead, Martin had 22 of his team’s first half points, with those totals coming from a variety of shots, including layups off of the fast break, offensive rebounds grabbed above the smaller Oilers, bank shots from the baseline and turnaround jump shots in the lane.

Sunset League League Overall School W L W L Ocean View 5 0 16 3 Edison 4 1 12 6 Fountain Valley 3 2 11 7 Huntington Bch 2 3 7 9 Marina 1 4 9 11 Westminster 0 5 3 13

Center Darren Snow led the Oilers with 18 points and guard Anthony Howard added 12, but the Oilers’ scoring production dropped off dramatically after that. Being smaller than the Barons, the Oilers had a difficult time working the ball inside the home team’s zone defense, so they often had to settle for long-range shooting.

The most serious challenge by Huntington Beach came at the end of the third quarter, when the Oilers scored consecutive baskets by forwards Carl Champion and John Hanavan, cutting the Fountain Valley lead to six at 44-38 with 23 seconds to play in the quarter.

Fountain Valley then patiently worked the ball inside to Zeno, who scored on a layup and was fouled with just one second left. Zeno missed that free throw, but the play was indicative of the Oilers’ inability to stop the Barons’ big men.

The rest of the night, however, belonged to Martin, and, as if to emphasize the point, he scored the Barons’ first four points of the final quarter. He added seven more before he was replaced with a substitute, leaving the court with a big win and the new school scoring record.

HUNTINGTON BEACH (57)--Vitz 1, Howard 12, Hanavan 8, Snow 18, Champion 6, Schutz 12.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY (73)--Emerson 4, Koelsch 7, Briceno 12, Nagle 2, Horner 2, E. Zeno 7, Martin 39.

Huntington Beach 11 13 15 19 -- 57

Fountain Valley 14 18 14 27 -- 73

In other Sunset League action:

Edison 52, Marina 38--The Vikings scored the first basket of the game but couldn’t manage to score again in the first quarter, which helped the second-place Chargers to another league victory at Edison. Junior guard Ken Ammann led the Chargers with 12 points. Senior forward Baron Coenen was the leading rebounder for Edison (4-1) with eight.

MARINA (38)--Craft 2, Medira 2, Georgeson 2, Guild 11, Knuff 14, Crane 4, Newmann 3.

EDISON (52)--Prince 4, Ammann 12, McConnell 7, Cole 8, Dubose 4, Katona 6, Smith 2, Wheelwright 4, Coenen 5.

Marina 2 10 9 17 -- 38

Edison 9 13 14 16 -- 52

Ocean View 65, Westminster 58--The Seahawks have been criticized for their one-handed free throw technique this season, but they made 15 of 24 attempts to hold off the Lions’ upset bid at Westminster. All nine of the Seahawks’ fourth quarter points came on free throws.

The Lions were winless in league coming into the game but trailed by only two points, 40-38, at halftime.

Reserve Desi Hazely had his best game of the season, scoring 14 points and getting 9 rebounds for the Seahawks (5-0, 16-3). Tim Davis paced Westminster (0-5, 3-13) with 22 points.

OCEAN VIEW (65)--Panzica 5, Straight 6, Butler 18, Labat 14, Hocker 6, Hazely 14, Ramirez 2.

WESTMINSTER (58)--Dever 4, Schurman 16, Davis 22, Smith 2, Harris 2, Austin 2, Love 6, Ochoa 4.

Ocean View 23 17 16 9 -- 65

Westminster 18 20 12 8 -- 58