ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Sunset League : Fountain Valley Upsets Marina, 43-41

With a chance to decide its own fate, Fountain Valley upset Sunset League champion Marina, 43-41, Friday night to clinch a berth in the Southern Section playoffs.

Tom Rochlen scored 16 points and got 8 rebounds as the Barons (6-4, 12-10) won for the second time this week and the third time in their last four outings.

Marina was playing without its two best players, Mark Georgeson and Steve Guild, who are ill. But the Vikings (10-2, 21-4) still had a chance to win it when Mike Meyers attempted a three-point field goal that bounced off the rim right before the buzzer.

A Fountain Valley loss, combined with an Edison victory, would have forced the two teams to play tonight in a showdown to determine the league’s third-place entry into the 5-A playoffs.

It wasn’t quite a do-or-die situation, but Fountain Valley Coach Dave Brown was treating it as one.

“We want to do it here . . . tonight,” Brown said before the tipoff.

In front of a partisan crowd, the Barons jumped out to a 8-2 lead before Viking guards Matt Hattabaugh and Meyers warmed up. The duo combined for 15 of Marina’s 19 first-half points but couldn’t make up for the inside loss of the 6-foot 10-inch Georgeson and the 6-6 Guild.

Hattabaugh finished with 13 points and Meyers 12.

Ocean View 76, Westminster 49--The Seahawks (7-3, 17-6) won their sixth consecutive league game. Ricky Butler scored a game-high 21 points for Ocean View. Marval Love scored 14 for Westminster.

Huntington Beach 72, Edison 66--Jeff Flory scored 18, Rodney Marx 17 and Kevin Brazzel 16 as the Oilers (1-9, 5-20) won at Edison. Mike Henderson scored 23 and Scott DeStefano added 19 for the Chargers (4-6).