ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Sunset League : Marina and Edison Trade Points and Blows; Vikings Win

Marina High School’s 67-59 victory over Edison Friday night was a brutal, hard-fought game, filled with flying elbows, flaring tempers, a few punches and a fight that nearly turned into a full-on brawl.

But when it was over, players from both teams shook hands as if nothing happened.

Uh, about that left-hand jab that Charger guard Mike Henderson delivered to the chin of Viking forward David Yamate while the referee wasn’t looking in the second period? Hey, no hard feelings, OK?

And how about the fight that broke out after Edison’s Scott DeStefano and Marina’s Dan Floyd were battling for a rebound and nearly ripped each other’s arms off? Still friends, right?

Sure, no problem. This is the Sunset League, remember? The league with all those players from Huntington Beach who love to hate each other but respect each other in the morning.

“We hate each other so bad . . . everyone in this league hates each other,” said Mark Georgeson, Marina’s 6-foot 10-inch center who scored 18 points. “It’s dog eat dog out there.

“But this isn’t gonna carry over into tomorrow. Even the guys who started the fight shook hands and said there were no hard feelings. It’s like when the Celtics play the Lakers.”

Friday night’s league opener in the Chargers’ gym looked more like the Bears vs. the Giants. Bodies were flying all over the place. Emotions were high. Nasty words were exchanged.

It wasn’t so much a game as it was a rumble waiting to happen.

“I knew it was gonna be like this,” Viking Coach Steve Popovich said. “I didn’t like this game from the word go. But that’s what you’re gonna see throughout this league.

“I thought there were some cheap shots, and I didn’t like those. But there were some tough rebounds, players got on the floor, and it was an intense game. You have to like that part.”

The Vikings overcame Henderson’s 31-point performance by outscoring the Chargers, 21-10, in the fourth period on their way to the come-from-behind victory. Edison, which led by as many as seven points in the third quarter, scored only one point in the last 4:50.

Marina forward Steve Guild, who scored a team-high 19 points, made a three-point shot with 4:25 remaining to cut Edison’s lead to one, 55-54. Yamate, who finished with 10 points, then sank four straight free throws, Mike Meyers made a foul shot and Matt Hattabaugh, who had 12 points, scored four in the final minute as Marina went ahead, 65-56.

Henderson, who scored all of his team’s 14 points in the first quarter and had 26 by halftime, scored just five points in the second half. Yamate, in a box-and-one defense, did a good job of denying Henderson open shots in the second half.

But he had no defense for Henderson’s punch in the second period. Yamate was getting into Henderson’s face, and the Edison guard took a swipe at him. But he apologized afterward.

“A lot of it was initiated by me,” Henderson said. “I’m a physical player, but I’m not trying to hurt anyone. I have no hard feelings toward the guy.”

Edison Coach Jon Borchert, meanwhile, was wondering if maybe these Sunset League games were getting out of hand.

“Perhaps, it is too intense,” Borchert said of the rivalries. “And these players like each other.”

Westminster 71, Huntington Beach 50--Chris Tower scored 21 points at Huntington Beach High before being ejected for his part in a bench-clearing brawl in the third period. Tower and the Oilers’ Rodney Marx, who scored 10 points, were both kicked out of the game for starting the fight. Lee Lockhart scored a team-high 13 points for the Oilers (4-12).