Sunset League : Fountain Valley Scrambles to Get Lead, Keeps Scrambling to Defeat Ocean View

Having started the fourth quarter 5 points behind, it figured that once Fountain Valley High School got a lead on highly touted Ocean View--ranked No. 4 in Orange County--it would finally take a deep breath and slow down. Who knows, maybe even hold the ball for 10 seconds or so.

But Fountain Valley just kept shooting on the way to a 73-69 victory in the Sunset League opener for both schools in front of 1,500 at Fountain Valley.

“We were on a good run and I figured why mess with it,” said Dave Brown, Fountain Valley coach.

Fountain Valley’s run started 40 seconds into the fourth quarter with Tim Hellbusch’s 15-foot jump shot, which cut Ocean View’s lead to 58-55. It ended with a second to go as Mike Cook’s free throw gave Fountain Valley a 73-69 lead and took away any possibility of a 3-point shot coming to the rescue.

Fountain Valley, which took a 59-58 lead lead on Hellbusch’s tip-in with 5:45 remaining, never pulled the ball out to run time off the clock even when it went ahead 64-58 with 4:18 left.

“We’re a 3-point shooting team,” Brown said. “We have to play our way.”

Fountain Valley did make 5 3-point shots in the game, though none in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter it simply pushed the ball upcourt then shot it. That set off a frenzy of activity in the game’s last 4 minutes, when the teams combined for 22 points, 3 blocked shots, 4 turnovers, 2 steals and a couple of offensive fouls.

“This was a great high school game,” Brown said. “The people got their money’s worth.”

Fountain Valley (13-2, 1-0) outscored Ocean View, 20-11, in the fourth quarter. Ocean View didn’t score its first points of that quarter until 4:05 remained.

That came on Darren Ernst’s layup, but Ocean View (10-4, 0-1) still found itself trailing, 64-60. Ocean View’s troubles scoring in the fourth quarter were out of character for a team that had scored 22 points in the second quarter--to take a 34-33 halftime lead--and 24 points in the third quarter to take a 58-53 lead.

Ocean View trailed, 15-12, after the first quarter but started pushing the ball inside and getting fouled in the second quarter. Ocean View outscored Fountain Valley, 22-18 in the second, 15 of Ocean View’s points coming on free throws. Guard Mike Frohn, who finished with 18, had 10 points in the quarter, all on free throws.

“We were letting them get the ball in too deep, and then we were trying to reach in and take it away,” said Mike Merle, Fountain Valley forward.

Merle, who led Fountain Valley with 19 points, had 6 in the fourth quarter. He would have had 8, but he was called for an offensive foul on a driving layup with 1:31 left, and his team leading, 68-66.

On the exchange, Ocean View’s Ernst seemed ready to tie the score with a layup, but Fountain Valley’s Tom Weaver, a 6-foot 1-inch guard, blocked the shot. Fountain Valley’s Derrick Corcoran made 2 free throws to put his team up, 70-66, with 52 seconds left.

Edison 47, Huntington Beach 46--Bryan Murphy made an 8-foot jump shot with 40 seconds left to give Edison (8-9, 1-0) a 47-46 lead. Huntington Beach worked for the last shot, but Jeff Long missed an 8-foot jumper with 8 seconds left. Murphy scored 17 points and Bill Martineau 11 for the Chargers. Long scored 14 points for the Oilers.

Marina 68, Westminster 41--Sophomore forward Cherokee Parks scored 20 points to lead Marina at Westminster. Marina led, 19-8, at the end of the first quarter and, 32-13, at the half.