SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS’ BASKETBALL DIVISION I-A PLAYOFF ROUNDUP : Harris’ Hot Hand Paces Ocean View

Jim Harris had a reunion with some old friends at El Toro High School Tuesday night in the qualifying round of the Southern Section Division I-A boys’ basketball playoffs.

Harris, a junior guard at Ocean View, grew up about two minutes from the El Toro campus and had gone to elementary school and junior high with half of the members of El Toro’s team. But he elected to attend Ocean View and play for his father when he graduated from Serrano Intermediate School.

Harris showed his old school buddies just how good he is on a basketball court, scoring 19 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, in leading Ocean View to an easy 83-53 victory.

The victory was the ninth in 10 games for Ocean View (17-9) and advanced the Seahawks into the first round of the playoffs Friday night at Hart (16-9). El Toro, the third-place team in the South Coast League, finished 9-16.

Harris was brilliant in the first half, making seven of nine shots to help Ocean View take a 48-26 lead at halftime. The Seahawks scored the first 10 points of the game and were never threatened by an outmanned El Toro team.

Harris’ third consecutive three-point shot with 6:22 remaining in the first half pushed Ocean View ahead, 30-13, and the hot-shooting Seahawks continued to build on the momentum through the second quarter.

Afterward, Harris said the first half was his best performance in his high school career.

“There was a little pride at stake tonight,” he said. “A lot of those guys are my friends. I played with about half of those guys in elementary school and junior high. You could walk from my house to this gym.”

Harris’ father said it felt a little strange playing in El Toro’s gymnasium against kids he’s known since they started playing Little League.

“I coached soccer and baseball teams with those kids,” Harris said. “I’m just glad Jim came in here focused. I thought he might try too hard to show everyone. He had a big-time first half.”

El Toro trailed by 22 points at halftime but credit the Chargers with playing good second and third quarters. Forward Jason Senik, who was among the county’s top 15 scorers all season, led El Toro with 17 points and made three three-pointers.

In other Division I-A qualifying games:

Huntington Beach 87, University 77--Bryan Chang had four of his six assists in the third quarter to help Huntington Beach (16-10) take the lead for good.

Chang scored 22 points in the game and teammate Jeff Vanderwal scored 11 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter. Luis Venegas had 26 points and 10 rebounds for University (9-17).

Riverside Poly 55, Century 53--A basket by Jason Welty gave Century its last lead at 53-52 with 25 seconds remaining before Riverside Poly rallied for the victory.

Darvin Thompson finished with 19 points for Century (16-9).