Sunset League : Edison Controls Fountain Valley : Nothing Works for Barons in 48-37 Setback to Chargers

Fountain Valley High School Coach Dave Brown tried shouting and he tried strategy, but nothing could keep his cold-shooting team from losing to up-and-down Edison, 48-37, Wednesday night.

The score was Ken Ammann 9, Fountain Valley 0, midway through the first quarter when Brown called timeout to give lash out at his team.

That had little effect on the Barons, so Brown tried a box-and-one defense to cool off Ammann.

That finally contained Ammann, but couldn’t prevent Chris Cole from producing the plays in the final minutes that secured the Chargers’ Sunset League victory.

A 6-1 senior swingman, Cole had two baskets, two free throws and two crucial offensive rebounds down the stretch to lead Edison (4-4, 14-8).

With Ammann being blanketed by the Barons’ Todd Hanson, the Chargers had trouble running any kind of a pattern offense in the second half. Fortunately for Edison, the Barons also had consistency problems, turning cold in the final period.

Edison Coach Jon Borchert downplayed the effects of Fountain Valley’s defensive ploy.

“It was a case of us not going to the right spots more than anything else,” Borchert said. “We get into lulls, obviously. That’s why we’re 4-4. If we always played like we did in the first quarter, we’d be 8-0.”

Indeed, Edison looked impressive when its pressing man-to-man defense and run-and-gun offense produced a quick 13-4 advantage. But when Borchert went to his bench, the Chargers lost their momentum--something they wouldn’t regain until the closing period.

Fountain Valley, which remarkably trailed Edison by only two points entering the fourth quarter, managed just three points in the final eight minutes of play. The Barons came within 56 seconds of being shut out in the fourth quarter.

The cold spell topped Fountain Valley’s poor first quarter, in which the Barons went scoreless for the first four minutes and managed just one field goal and a pair of free throws.

“That’s been symptomatic of our team,” Brown said. “We’ve had several quarters this year in which we’ve only scored two. It’s a struggle for us to produce points. We don’t have anybody who’s really a pure shooter.”

Still, Fountain Valley (3-5, 12-11) isn’t out of the running for a CIF playoff berth.

“We’re still in there,” Brown said. “We still have to play Westminster and Huntington Beach. If we play well against them, we’re right there.”

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EDISON (48)--Margulies 2, Henderson 8, Ammann 15, Smith 10, Cole 9, Katona 2.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY (37)--Hanson 7, Briggs 12, Johnson 4, Wessler 4, Gordon 4, Waite 6.

Marina 81, Westminster 60--Steve Guild and Mike Meyers combined for 50 points and 21 rebounds to pace Marina High to its victory.

Guild, a 6-5 sophomore, scored 29 points and collected 12 rebounds. He hit 15 of 17 free throw attempts, including 10 of 12 in the first half for Marina (4-4, 14-10).

Meyers had 21 points, 9 rebounds and six assists for the Vikings. Mark Georgeson contributed 10 rebounds and Bill Craft handed out eight assists.

WESTMINSTER (60)--Dever 8, Chiasson 6, Caeias 12, Smith 9, Austine 10, Bertini 1, Love 14.

MARINA (81)--Georgeson 14, Guile 29, Meyers 21, Quinn 4, Hattadaugh 4, Craft 3, Martin 5, Sanders 1.

Ocean View 74, Huntington Beach 46--Blaine DeBrouwer and Ricky Butler performed steadily as usual as the Seahawks continued to make it a one-team race.

DeBrouwer scored 26 points and Butler had 19 points and 9 rebounds for Ocean View (8-0, 18-4). Darin Snow’s nine points paced Huntington Beach (3-5, 9-13).

HUNTINGTON BEACH (46)--Pariseau 2, Kao 6, Pemper 7, Bitz 4, Snow 9, Bettis 2, Jensen 8, Gasper 4, Lane 2, Porter 2.

OCEAN VIEW (74)--Panzica 12, Hazely 2, Butler 19, Morris 2, DeBrouwer 26, Vogtmann 3, Hounsley 6, Diaz 4.