ORANGE TOURNAMENT : Parks Puts On Show as Marina Ends El Toro’s Winning Streak

Cherokee Parks, Marina High School’s 6-foot-11 junior center, has become one of the dominant prep basketball players in Southern California.

The predictions of greatness that have followed Parks since he played his first varsity game as a freshman are routinely being played out on the basketball court this season.

Parks was impressive Wednesday night, scoring 37 points and grabbing 19 rebounds in Marina’s 82-71 overtime victory over El Toro in the second round of the Orange Holiday tournament at Chapman College’s Hutton Sports Center.

Parks missed only one shot and followed it with a stirring basket that helped Marina (8-4) advance to the semifinals against the county’s top-ranked boys’ team, Mater Dei, at 8:50 tonight.

Parks scored on medium-range jumpers, short bank shots in traffic and crowd-pleasing dunks. He drew a crowd whenever he touched the ball, but he consistently scored at key points of the evenly matched game.

Parks’ biggest basket came with 19 seconds remaining in regulation play and Marina clinging to a 69-68 lead. Three players scrambled for a loose ball that squirted out of the pileup and into Parks’ hands. He turned and made a shot that pushed Marina ahead, 71-68.

But El Toro sent the game into overtime when Dan Somers made a three-point shot with six seconds remaining to tie the score, 71-71. El Toro (9-2) made 11 three-point shots in an effort to keep pace with Parks, but the Chargers failed to score in the three-minute overtime.

“It was important for us to come back after they tied the score on a last-second shot,” said Steve Popovich, Marina’s coach. “They started hitting threes, we started turning the ball over and then we couldn’t make free throws.

“But when it came time to win the game, Cherokee wanted it more than anybody. Playing Mater Dei will be good for us. We’ve got a shot at them, let’s see what happens.”

Marina broke El Toro’s nine-game winning streak by outscoring the Chargers, 11-0, in overtime. Marina should have won the game in regulation, but guard Thi Nguyen missed the front end of three, one-and-one free-throw opportunities down the stretch.

Parks sealed the victory with nine seconds remaining when he scored on a dunk. He made 14 of 15 field goals and nine of 11 free throws. Tim Casarez led El Toro with 19 points, and Somers scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.

Mater Dei 68, Fountain Valley 40--Danny O’Neil scored 16 of his 17 points in the first half, including a pair of three-point shots for Mater Dei (10-1).

Saddleback 69, Santa Ana 40--Santa Ana’s problems continued as the Saints (4-6) committed 27 turnovers and made only 18 of 50 shots.

Andre McFarlane and Elton Moore each scored 16 points for Saddleback (9-4).

Dominguez 47, Foothill 42--Foothill fell behind, 13-2, by committing nine turnovers in the first quarter and then rallied behind the play of forward Mark Wilkinson.

Wilkinson scored 27 of his team’s 42 points and gave Foothill (7-4) a 27-24 lead with six minutes remaining. But Dominguez (10-1) made five of seven free throws down the stretch.