SUNSET LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Jessie Picks Up the Pace to Spark Edison

Nothing Brandon Jessie does on the court for the Edison boys’ basketball team can be described as “slow,” but some things take more time than others.

Domination, for one. It took Jessie awhile, but his slow-start-fast-finish act proved to be the right pace for Edison Wednesday. The Chargers moved within a half-game of first-place Marina in the Sunset League with a 62-57 overtime victory over the Vikings at Marina.

Jessie, generally regarded as Orange County’s top prep player, scored six of his 30 points in overtime to lead Edison (13-7, 6-2). He also had four of his 11 rebounds in overtime.

And a two-handed dunk with 36 seconds remaining completed Jessie’s full-speed finish.

“We expect Brandon to do those things,” Edison Coach Jon Borchert said. “It just stands out more in a big game like this when he takes over.”

Borchert credited the pressure defense of Marina’s B.J. Babic for Jessie’s sluggish (11 points, one rebound) first half. In the second half, however, Jessie was the difference.

His three-pointer with 5:35 left in the third quarter stopped a 7-0 Marina run, which had helped the Vikings (15-8, 7-2) open a 33-28 lead. Less than a minute later, an inside basket by Jessie brought the Chargers back to within four (37-33).

Twice in the fourth quarter, Jessie tied the score with two free throws. In the overtime, Jessie scored on an offensive rebound to give Edison a 57-54 lead with 2:19 left, then extended the lead to 59-55 with a pull-up jump shot with 1:24 to go.

Marina closed to within 59-57 on a steal and layup by Darren Crooks with 47 seconds left, but Jessie broke free against Marina’s press following the basket and slammed home the clinching points.

In other league games:

Fountain Valley 68, Santa Ana 63--Fountain Valley rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit and then held off Santa Ana (6-14, 0-8) with its free-throw shooting. The Barons (6-3 in league) made 12 of their 14 free throws in the fourth quarter with Ara Petrosian, who had a game-high 19 points, making seven of eight.

Huntington Beach 80, Westminster 47--Sophomore Tony Gonzalez had 20 points and 12 rebounds and senior Jeff Vanderwal had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Huntington Beach (12-10, 5-4).