Parks Bottled Up, So Carreon Rescues Season for Marina

There have been many occasions when Cherokee Parks has had to carry the Marina High School basketball team. The 6-foot-11 center has the ability to be a one-man show.

But on Tuesday night, Parks could only watch as teammate Mike Carreon arched a three-point field goal--the most important shot to date for the Vikings.

“I knew it was in when he shot it,” Parks said. “It had to go in.”

Whether exuding confidence or hoping for the best, Parks was right. Carreon’s three-pointer with five seconds left gave Marina a 59-57 victory over Capistrano Valley in the second round of the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs.

The Vikings (17-10) will play San Bernardino in the quarterfinals Friday.

“Coach wanted the shot with five seconds left,” said Carreon, who scored five points. “I knew time was running out, so I had to put it up.”

To almost everyone in the Saddleback College gymnasium, it seemed obvious that the ball would end up in the hands of Parks, one of the top high school players in the nation. After all, the Duke-bound senior who averages 29.5 points per game was coming off a 44-point performance in the Vikings’ first-round victory.

But he never got a chance to touch the ball, let alone shoot it.

With the Cougars triple-teaming Parks inside, the Vikings worked the ball around the perimeter for 16 seconds before Sean Haselrig spotted Carreon wide open in the corner. His shot barely touched the net.

“We knew Capo was going to do anything to deny Cherokee the ball,” Marina Coach Steve Popovich said. “We wanted the shot with five seconds left. We didn’t care who shot it as long as it was a good shot.”

For the Vikings, there was some satisfaction in Carreon’s shot winning such an important game. All season, they have lived with a “one-man team” reputation, which they say isn’t deserved. On Tuesday, they made a strong case.

Carreon’s jumper capped a 12-2 run that saw the Vikings erase an eight-point deficit in the final 5:23. Parks had only two points during the run, as Capistrano Valley used a sagging zone that surrounded him with three defenders.

The Cougars, led by Tom Airey (15 points) and Jose Salvatierra (10 points) controlled most of the second half. They appeared to have the game in hand, leading 55-47 in the fourth quarter, but turned the ball over four times in the final four minutes.

With Parks (18 points) bottled up, the Vikings had to rely on their outside shooting.

“I wanted to go to practice tomorrow, so someone had to step forward,” Haselrig said.

Haselrig, who scored 13 points made three of four shots in the fourth quarter, two of which were three-pointers. It was his 10-foot jumper with He pulled Marina to within one, 55-54, with 2:20 left.