IRVINE WORLD NEWS TOURNAMENT : Harrell, Jessie Lead Edison to Title With Rout of Woodbridge

Point guard Todd Harrell started quickly and forward Brandon Jessie finished with a flourish as Edison rolled to a 55-39 victory over Woodbridge in the championship game of the Irvine World News tournament Saturday night at Christ College Irvine.

Harrell scored 15 points in the first quarter and made three consecutive three-point shots as Edison built a 19-10 lead. Woodbridge never got closer than five points after the first quarter.

Woodbridge (6-2) made only 13 of 51 field-goal attempts and failed miserably from three-point range, where it made three of 16 attempts. Despite its cold shooting, Woodbridge trailed only 45-39 with 2 minutes 17 seconds remaining after guard Todd Lowe stole a pass and made a layup.

But three seconds later, Jessie scored on a breakaway dunk and was intentionally fouled by Woodbridge’s Ryan Sunderman. The play was costly for Woodbridge as Jessie made two free throws for a 49-39 lead.

Jessie scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and was named the most valuable player of the tournament. He scored 101 points in four tournament games.

“Brandon didn’t get into the game until the end, but he sure got us going when they made that run at us,” Edison Coach Jon Borchert said. “I thought we had a total team effort tonight.

“Todd played awfully well in the first quarter and our two football players (John Khamis and Kyle Murphy) have played key roles all week. Our team has improved tremendously since the first week of the season.”

Edison (6-2) sealed the victory in the fourth quarter by making eight of 10 free throws. Woodbridge didn’t get to the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Woodbridge Coach Bill Shannon said he thought his team was capable of a comeback after it rallied to within six.

“I thought we had a real shot (to win) in the fourth quarter when we got to within six,” he said. “We had opportunities to score, but we couldn’t make a shot.

“Edison has a real nice combination of players. They have a great athlete (Jessie), a sound point guard (Harrell) who doesn’t make mistakes and a bunch of hard-nosed guys who battle.”

In the third-place game:

Irvine 52, Kennedy 37--Jado Lee led Irvine (9-2) with 17 points. Irvine made 11 of 12 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Jermaine Galloway had 18 points for Kennedy (3-4).

In the fifth-place game:

Peninsula 90, Esperanza 72--Matt Kordik scored 34 points for Esperanza (3-6).

In the seventh-place game:

University 106, San Pedro 104--Luis Venegas scored 27 points for University (4-6), and Raymund Tutt scored 31 for San Pedro (6-6).

In the consolation final:

Marina 73, Laguna Beach 51--Brendan Lyons scored 15 points and Vlad Nieto had 14, including four three-pointers for Marina (6-3). Darren Gravley led Laguna Beach with 16 points.

In the consolation third-place game:

San Clemente 61, Westminster 53--Marcus Guild scored 23 points for San Clemente (5-5). Paul Frechette scored 17 for Westminster (4-4).

In the consolation fifth-place game:

Santa Ana 69, Orange Lutheran 56--Jorge Vasquez scored 22 points for Santa Ana (5-4).