Compton’s 3-Pointers Overcome Edison

Edison High School performed valiantly in Friday night’s semifinals of the Irvine World News basketball tournament, but poor outside shooting and Compton’s zone defense did in the Chargers, who lost, 64-61, at Woodbridge High School.

Edison (5-2) had a 17-12 lead after the first quarter, but Compton (8-1) came back in the second, scoring seven points in a minute. The teams then struggled until halftime, when Edison held a 33-19 lead.

But Compton outscored Edison, 20-10, in the third quarter, mainly on the shooting of 6-foot-7 senior forward Calvin Curry, who made three successive three-pointers, and finished the quarter with a fourth. Curry made more three-pointers (five) than he did field goals (three) in scoring a game-high 24 points.

“We knew (Curry) was a shooter,” Edison Coach Jon Borchert said. “We just slacked off. . . That really hurts. Until he started hitting those (three-pointers), we could take away their inside game. But once he started. . . . “

Down 49-43 at the start of the fourth quarter, Edison rallied to come within one point twice, but 6-10 senior Bill Martineau missed two free throws and both Brandon Jessie and Dan Lovelady missed outside shots with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Jessie, a 6-4 sophomore, led Edison with 16 points and seven assists.

Edison will play Marina, which lost to San Bernardino, 58-56, in the semifinals, for third place at 6 tonight at Christ College in Irvine, and Compton will face San Bernardino in the championship game at 7:30 p.m.

In other Irvine World News Tournament games:

Orange Lutheran 65, Long Beach Wilson 63--John Foster scored the winning points on a layup with 36 seconds remaining for the Lancers (4-2) in the consolation semifinals.

Daryl Cole finished with 21 points and Foster added 10 for Orange Lutheran. Steve Johnson’s 14 points led Long Beach Wilson (3-5).

Savanna 72, Garey 61--Ben Smith had 24 for Savanna in a consolation semifinal. William English had 17 points to lead Garey.

Eisenhower 71, Saddleback 62--Dana Jimmerson scored 22 points and Haji Dunn had 18 for Eisenhower (5-2), which plays Redlands for fifth place at 4:30 p.m. at Christ College in Irvine.

Santa Ana 80, Esperanza 75--Ramon Yerna and Oscar Wilson each had 19 points to lead Santa Ana (4-2) at University. Chauncey Woolridge had 15 for Santa Ana. Esperanza (3-5) was led by Walter Forcatto, who had 26 points, and Joe Foss, who had 22.

Millikan 60, Irvine 44--Millikan (7-2) outscored Irvine, 17-5, in the third quarter to pull away for the victory. Irvine played without leading scorer John Molle, who twisted his ankle in practice Wednesday. Molle scored 40 points against Long Beach Wilson Monday. Greg Bains had 14 points to lead Irvine. Dante Powell had 18 points and Ibn Maddred had 10 for Millikan.