BOYS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Huntington Beach Needs Overtime but Bounces Back

After Huntington Beach High School suffered its first Sunset League basketball loss Friday night, sophomore Matt Ambrose wasn’t about to let the Oilers extend the streak to two games.

Ambrose scored six of his 12 points in overtime and the Oilers rebounded for a 76-74 victory over Ocean View Saturday night at Ocean View.

The victory gave Huntington Beach (13-5, 5-1) a one-game lead in the league race over Ocean View (10-8, 4-2), Edison and Marina. Huntington Beach lost to Marina, 82-66, and Ocean View lost to Edison, 64-59, Friday night.

“Ocean View was in the same boat we were,” Huntington Beach Coach Roy Miller said. “We knew one of us could have come into this game with a little bit of a cushion had we both won Friday night. Both of us losing added a little more importance to this game.”

Mustapha Abdi scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds for the Oilers, but Ambrose was the clutch player in overtime.

Ambrose made two layups and had a steal in a 33-second span that gave Huntington Beach a 72-68 lead with 1 minute 19 seconds remaining. He added a short jumper with 28 seconds left to make it 74-71.

Abdi made one of two free throws with 14 seconds left to make it 75-71, but Ocean View’s Ryan Martin hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one with eight seconds remaining.

Huntington Beach’s Jeff Vanderwal was intentionally fouled by Jim Harris with five seconds left. Vanderwal made one of two free throws, and Huntington Beach, awarded the ball on the intentional foul, ran out the clock.

Ocean View’s Randy Karliner forced the overtime when he banked in a 15-foot jumper with one second left to tie it, 68-68.

Huntington Beach nearly lost the game in regulation. The Oilers trailed, 64-56, with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter, but Abdi scored six points in a 12-4 Oiler run.

“There were so many ups and downs in the course of the game,” Miller said. “It looked like Ocean View might run away with it for a while and we came back with a nice spurt.”

Martin scored 27 points, and Marcel TenBerge added 23 for Ocean View.

In other Sunset League games:

Marina 58, Fountain Valley 43--Cherokee Parks scored 31 points, setting a school career scoring record with 1,709 points. He surpassed Rich Branning’s mark of 1,680. Parks also had 12 rebounds for Marina (10-9, 4-2).

In the Olympic League:

Santa Ana 67, Westminster 62--Horatio Benitez had 30 points and Chauncey Woolridge 12 for visiting Santa Ana (11-7, 3-3).

Orange Lutheran 68, Capistrano Valley Christian 52--Guard Nathan Owens had 28 points for host Capistrano Valley Christian.

Brethren Christian 62, Whittier Christian 44--Chiron Hart scored 18 points for visiting Brethren Christian (15-3, 6-1). Nick Sanchez scored 19 for Whittier Christian (8-9, 5-2).

In the South Coast League:

San Clemente 53, Dana Hills 50--San Clemente’s Eddie Morgan had 16 points and 16 rebounds, and sealed the victory with two free throws with 11 seconds left. San Clemente is 12-8, 3-2; Dana Hills is 10-9, 2-3.