SUNSET LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Huntington Beach Holds Off No. 4 Edison

In a Sunset League boys’ basketball game that was decided by two plays in the final 20 seconds, Huntington Beach High School defeated Edison, 58-57, Friday at Huntington Beach High.

Each team had a chance to come back from a one-point deficit in the final seconds: Huntington Beach converted; Edison, the fourth-ranked team in Orange County, didn’t.

With Huntington Beach trailing, 56-55, with 20 seconds remaining, the Oilers’ Mustapha Abdi drove the lane, took three defenders with him and passed to Andy Kijewski, who made a layup with 11 seconds left.

“I had the shot but he was open,” Abdi said. “I dumped it to him and luckily he made it.”

Edison then set up a play to get the ball to either 6-foot-5 forward Brandon Jessie in the post or 6-3 guard Todd Smyser for an outside shot coming off a pick. Jessie wasn’t open; Smyser was. He took a pass at the top of the key, dribbled twice and missed badly from the free-throw line as defenders converged on him.

“We did a good job preventing it from getting into (Jessie) and forcing them to take the outside jumper,” Huntington Beach Coach Roy Miller said.

The Oilers (9-4, 1-0 in league) put themselves in the position to win the league opener with strong outside shooting and sharp passing by Abdi. Sophomore guard Bryan Chang made four of seven shots from behind the three-point line and scored a team-high 18 points. Chang made two consecutive three-pointers to open the fourth quarter, giving the Oilers a 49-42 lead.

After an Edison basket, Abdi hit a three-pointer that gave the Oilers the biggest lead of the game for either team, 52-44, with 5:50 remaining. Abdi, who finished with 16 points, did not score after that.

The Oilers rely on Abdi, the only returning player from last year, to score often, and when he gives up the ball, his teammates don’t always come through.

Twice in the second half, Abdi passed under the basket to a teammate, who failed to score.

But Abdi, who had three assists, didn’t hesitate to make the final pass to Kijewski.

“I like to have the ball because the other guys are younger guys and I have experience,” Abdi said.

Kijewski’s basket spoiled a furious comeback by Edison (10-4, 0-1). The Chargers went on an 11-2 run that was capped by a three-point basket by Jessie with two minutes remaining to give Edison a 55-54 lead. Jessie, who scored 16 points in the first half, led all scorers with 20 and had 10 rebounds. Junior forward John Khamis added 15 for the Chargers.

“We’ve played a lot of close games this year,” Edison Coach Jon Borchert said. “We’ve won a lot of them and lost some. I think that was a pretty good high school game out there. I thought they both played pretty well.”