SUNSET LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Harrell’s Steal Against Ocean View Keeps Edison in the Hunt

Last season, Jim Harris hit a three-pointer near the end of regulation to force overtime in Ocean View High School’s victory over Edison.

But this season, Harris didn’t get a chance to take that last three-pointer.

Edison guard Todd Harrell stole the ball from Harris with eight seconds left and fed Greg Miller for the clinching basket in the Chargers’ 64-59 victory in a Sunset League game Friday night at Edison.

Harrell’s steal kept the Chargers (14-5, 4-2 in league) in the chase for the league title. Ocean View (10-7, 4-1) is tied for the league lead with Huntington Beach, which lost to Marina, 82-66, Friday. Huntington Beach plays at Ocean View tonight.

“If we wanted to stay in the hunt, we would have had to win one of our two games (this week),” Edison Coach Jon Borchert said.

The Chargers were clinging to a 62-59 lead when Todd Smyser missed the front end of a one-and-one with 10 seconds left. Ocean View grabbed the rebound and called a timeout.

Ocean View inbounded the ball to Harris. Harrell, a 5-foot-8 junior who finished with three points, knocked the ball loose, dove to the floor and tossed it to Miller, who hit a layup at the buzzer.

“We had one foul to give (before the one-and-one), and we were going to foul on the inbounds,” Borchert said. “But Todd said he got the ball clean off the dribble, no foul. I didn’t know.”

Harrell’s steal capped a fourth-quarter comeback by Edison.

Smyser scored six of his 18 points in a 15-5 run in the final 6 minutes 11 seconds. Ocean View had led, 54-49, with 6:40 remaining.

Brandon Jessie scored 20 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, and John Khamis added 14 points for Edison.

“Ocean View was double-teaming Brandon on the perimeter most of the game,” Borchert said. “I thought John made some good defensive plays on (Marcel) TenBerge in the fourth quarter.”

Edison also played tough defense in the fourth quarter on Ryan Martin, who had scored 20 of his 30 points in the first half. Martin made only one of four shots in the fourth quarter.

Martin’s strong first-half shooting (six of nine, two three-pointers) gave Ocean View a 37-35 halftime lead.

Khamis hit three free throws and a layup as Edison pulled ahead, 45-41, with 2:41 left in the third quarter.

But Ocean View, led by Martin’s eight points, went on an 11-2 run to close the quarter.

Edison took the lead for good, 59-56, on Smyser’s three-pointer with 2:25 remaining. Ocean View came no closer than three the rest of the game.

In other league games:

Marina 82, Huntington Beach 66--Cherokee Parks scored 37 points and Darren Crooks added 19 as host Marina (3-2, 9-9) outscored Huntington Beach, 42-31, in the second half. Mustapha Abdi scored 30 points for Huntington Beach (12-5, 4-1).

Westminster 49, Fountain Valley 48--Westminster (5-12, 1-4) scored only four points in the fourth quarter but won at home. Jesse Gomez scored 16 and Eric Wilkins had 13 and nine rebounds for the winners. Fountain Valley is 5-12, 0-5.