SUNSET LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Marina, Parks Have Time of Their Lives Beating Ocean View

Cherokee Parks, Marina High School’s all-everything center, didn’t mince words about the Vikings’ six-game winning streak. After another night of near-perfect basketball, he had a simple reason for the success.

“We’ve just decided to have some fun,” Parks said.

Maybe that was all that was missing. Maybe the Vikings, a team floundering three weeks ago, just needed put a little zip back in their game.

The Vikings had a ball Friday night in their 69-53 Sunset League victory over Ocean View at Marina. They ran, they shot, the played defense and, afterward, they grinned from ear to ear.

“We’re enjoy the game a lot more the last few weeks,” Parks said. “I think that’s made us a better team.”

Marina’s good time this time at the expense of Ocean View, which was the last team to beat the Vikings (13-9, 7-2).

The Seahawks (13-8, 7-3) came into the game tied for first with Edison. However, they were blown out in the second half.

By winning, Marina stayed within a half game of Edison going into tonight’s game between the two teams.

As usual, Parks had a lot to do with the Vikings’ victory. He finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds, but it was his passing that made the difference.

The Seahawks were determined to keep Parks from getting an open shot. Whenever he got the ball down low, he was surrounded by two, three and, sometimes four defenders.

But every time the defense collapsed, Parks merely found the open man. As a result, Darren Crooks scored 20 points and Sean Haselrig 18.

With so many open shots, the Vikings shot 62% and Parks finished with 11 assists.

“The big problem we had was that people we’re suppose to rotate on defense, but didn’t,” Ocean View Coach Jim Harris said.

The Seahawks stayed close until the last two minutes of the second quarter. Marina went on a 8-2 run and led, 33-25, at halftime.

Ocean View made only seven of 27 shots in the first half.

“Considering that, we felt lucky to be down by only eight,” Harris said.

Whatever luck the Seahawks might have had disappeared quickly in the second half. Parks opened the third quarter with an eight-foot jumper, then fed Crooks twice for baskets, and the Vikings were off and running.

Marina outscored Ocean View, 19-10, in the quarter to put the game out of reach.

If the Seahawks were out of sync on defense, they were down right ragged on offense. The shooting woes continued in the second half and they made only 17 of 62 shots.

Ryan Martin, Ocean View’s normally accurate shooting guard, was one of 11 from the field. Point guard Jim Harris was also one of 11 from the field.

The only effective offense player was Marcel TenBerge, who scored 24 points. He made 10 of 21 shots, but three of misses were the result of blocked shots by Parks, who had six blocked shots.

In other league games:

Edison 61, Westminster 47--Greg Miller scored 16 points and Brandon Jessie scored 15 points for Edison (18-5, 8-2). The Chargers led, 21-5, at the end of the first quarter.

Santa Ana 74, Huntington Beach 71--Chauncey Woolridge had 28 points and 15 rebounds for host Santa Ana (12-10, 4-6 in league). Ramon Yerena had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Saints. Mustapha Abdi had 31 points for Huntington Beach (14-7, 6-3).