SUNSET LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Marina Finding Life After Parks Is Good

With Cherokee Parks experiencing college basketball nirvana at Duke, the 1991-92 season figured to be something of a letdown at Marina High School.

Wrong. After Marina’s 68-59 victory at Edison Wednesday night, the Vikings are a credible 11-6, 3-0 in the Sunset League.

With Parks, a 6-foot-11 high school All-American at center, Marina was 1-2 after three league games last season. True, he was hobbled by an ankle injury and missed a couple of games, but 3-0 is 3-0 and Coach Steve Popovich isn’t one to nit-pick.

When the season began he wasn’t sure what to expect from this untested group. And after 17 games this season, he’s still not sure what’s coming next.

But he’s feeling good about the Vikings all the same.

“To be 3-0 at this point after going to Huntington Beach and Edison, we feel very fortunate,” Popovich said.

Playing without Parks has been a big adjustment.

“It’s just really different,” he said. “I was very fortunate to have a center for the last seven years with Mark Georgeson and Cherokee, but I coached for 10 years before that without a guy over 6-6.”

Wednesday, Marina didn’t start a player taller than 6-4, but the Vikings held their own against an Edison team that features Brandon Jessie, a 6-5 forward.

Popovich spread the court and made Edison (8-6, 1-1) chase the Vikings. He also used a straight man-to-man defense with B.J. Babic going against Jessie, who still had a game-high 23 points.

“We just gave a lot of help because (Jessie) can control a whole game the way he plays,” Popovich said. “B.J. Babic did an excellent job.”

Darren Crooks had 22 points and Brendan Lyons added 19 points to lead Marina.

The Vikings led, 45-41, entering the fourth quarter, but won a free-throw shooting contest down the stretch to pull away. They made 11 of 18 free throws in the final quarter.

It’s going to get harder before it gets easier for Marina, however. The Vikings play Ocean View, one of the preseason favorites, Friday.

Popovich just shrugs.

“We’ve got the kids playing well together,” he said.

At this point, it’s enough to win.

In other Sunset League games:

Fountain Valley 79, Santa Ana 56--Chris Rieff had 21 points and 12 rebounds for host Fountain Valley (7-8, 2-1). Ara Petrosian had 17 points for the Barons, and Guy Vaccaro added 14, including four three-pointers. Jorge Vasquez led Santa Ana with 18 points, including three three-pointers.

Huntington Beach 71, Westminster 49--Matt Ambrose scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds for Huntington Beach (9-7, 2-1). Paul Frechett scored 25 points and Brian Mann had five assists for Westminster (5-10, 1-2).