Harbor Finishes Strong to Beat Orange Coast, 77-71

The Harbor College Seahawks made 12 out of 14 free throws in the last 1:34 to defeat host Orange Coast College, 77-71, in the first round of the Southern California Community College playoffs.

Harbor, which improved its record to 16-13, will travel to Santa Monica College to face the No. 1-seeded Corsairs on Tuesday at 7:30.

“Nobody thought that we could win this ball game tonight,” Harbor Coach Ken Curry said. ‘I just told our kids to come ready to play. . . . We really hit those big free throws at the end of the game.”

The Pirates, 20-12, shot a blistering 70% from the field in the first half but led only 36-35 at the intermission.

Harbor’s Keith Billingslea led all scorers with 32 points. His outside bombs forced the Pirates to abandon their 2-3 zone defense.

“It’s no secret that they would try and stop Keith (Billingslea),” Curry said. “If we were going to win tonight, I knew we would have to have scoring from some of the other guys.”

After four lead changes and two ties, the Seahawks took the lead for good when Earnest White made a jump shot with 3:48 remaining in the game.

Harbor forced the Pirates into 21 turnovers, but Dareck Crane’s 24 points helped keep Orange Coast close.

For the Seahaws, Vernon Middleton scored 18 points and White also finished in double figures with 10.

Curry was forced to reshuffle his starting lineup. Sophomore Jerome Hendrix has been dropped from the squad, and freshman Charles Perry did not play because he lost his uniform.