Roundup : Ocean View Comeback Falls Short, St. Paul Barely Holds On, 69-66

St. Paul High School, which seemingly scored at will in the first half, had just enough to hold off Ocean View, 69-66, Saturday night in a nonleague game in Huntington Beach.

St. Paul opened a 23-6 lead in the first quarter with a fast-breaking style of basketball that caught Ocean View with its guard down and held a 42-30 lead at halftime.

But St. Paul (12-5) wilted in the second half when forward Greg Willig and center John Overbeck got into foul trouble and Ocean View rallied behind the play of center Todd Norman.

Norman scored 22 of his game-high 34 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as Ocean View never got closer than the final margin of victory. It was the second straight loss for Ocean View (10-5).

“We never got into any type of offensive flow in the second half with our big guys in foul trouble,” said Mike Dinneen, St. Paul coach.

Willig, who is 6-foot 7-inches, left the game with 1:28 remaining in the third quarter with his fourth foul and Ocean View moved to within 6 points, 53-47, on a 3-point play by Norman.

Overbeck, 6-8, went to the bench with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter and eventually fouled out with 3:51 remaining to play.

Still, the Swordsmen had just enough offense.

Willig returned to score a key basket and teammate Jason Hart hit a 3-point shot in the final quarter as St. Paul kept its poise down the stretch.

Willig scored 25 points, but managed only 6 points in the second half.

St. Paul sprinted to an 11-1 lead before Ocean View got untracked. Willig scored 11 points in the first quarter and made 8 of 15 shots in the first half.

But Norman rallied the Seahawks. The center whom Ocean View Coach Jim Harris calls, “the best postman in Southern California” nearly single-handedly carried the Seahawks to victory, missing only one shot in the second half.

Norman was brilliant in the fourth quarter, scoring on a bank shot with 3:13 remaining to pull Ocean View to within 5 points, 65-60, and then stealing a pass and scoring on a layup with 1:05 remaining to narrow St. Paul’s lead to 67-63.

Norman showed his versatility in the final seconds when he went behind the 3-point line and hit a jump shot that made the score 69-66 with 17 seconds remaining.

But that was as close as Ocean View would get.

Norman made 13 of 17 field goal attempts and 7 of 10 attempts from the foul line for 34 points. He also had 18 rebounds.