Zalatel’s Heroics Help Harbor Beat Marymount

Harbor College’s Jon Zalatel made two free throws with four seconds remaining in overtime as the Seahawks defeated Marymount, 95-93, in a Southern California Athletic Conference opener at Harbor on Wednesday night.

Zalatel stole the ball from Marymount guard Lenny Kai with seven seconds remaining. He was fouled by Kerry Baker as he drove for the basket.

The victory gives Harbor (8-11 overall, 1-0 in conference play) a 9-0 record in the series against Marymount, which dropped to 7-11.

“We always lose to them just like this,” Marymount Coach Jim Masterson said. “We just can’t seem beat them.”

It was a physical and sloppy game. Four players fouled out and three technical fouls were called.

“We played without three of our guys who fouled out,” Harbor Coach Ken Curry said. “It was just a great win for us.”

Freshman guard Brenton Woods, who fouled out with 3:41 left in regulation play, led Harbor with 23 points. Curtis Thomas scored 22, and Chris Mijanovic added 14.

Baker was impressive with a game-high 30 points, and Julian Lawrence had 28 for the Mariners.

Marymount led most of the first half, but Harbor tied the score, 30-30, when Mijanovic made two free throws with 5:03 left before halftime.

With 2:35 left, Woods put the Seahawks up by three points after making four consecutive free throws. Woods was fouled by Lawrence on a drive to the basket and Masterson got a technical for disputing the call. Harbor led, 46-43, at the half.

Back-to-back technicals against Harbor allowed Marymount to take a seven-point lead with 9:28 remaining in regulation play. The first technical was called against Woods, and the second against Thomas. Baker, the state’s second-best free-throw shooter, made all four attempts to give the Mariners a 70-63 edge.