Peek Gets Hot, Hart Rallies for Dramatic 70-66 Win

Ali Peek sank a six-foot straightaway jump shot with 15 seconds to play and Erik Stephens added a pair of free throws with three seconds left Friday night to lift host Hart High to a dramatic 70-66 victory over Ocean View in a Southern Section Division I-A basketball playoff opener.

The final points decided a battle in which the lead changed hands 12 times--nine times in the fourth quarter--and capped a valiant rally by Hart, which trailed, 41-29, early in the second half and appeared on the verge of being blown out.

Hart (17-9) will play Dominguez, a 53-50 victor over Inglewood, in a second-round game Tuesday.

Peek (6-foot-5, 250 pounds), the Indians’ go-to gun in the middle all season who had been averaging 24.1 points and 15.1 rebounds, was held in check for the most part by a shifting defense and was outrebounded by two teammates. Stephens, who scored 18 points, had a game-high 15 rebounds and Steffe, who scored 17, grabbed 14.

Peek, who scored 15 in the second half, led all players with 21 points. Hart outrebounded Ocean View, 49-27.

“My downfall, sometimes, is that I don’t go to the offensive boards enough,” said Steffe, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. “But they were hitting pretty hard on Ali, so the coach said I had to step up.”

Ocean View (17-10) led, 35-27, at halftime but scored only 11 points in the third quarter as Hart narrowed the gap to 46-44. Peek, who before the game was honored for setting school single-season records for scoring (604 points) and rebounding (378), was held to two points in the first quarter and four in the second.

In the third quarter, Peek scored four baskets in five trips down the floor to pull Hart to within 43-40.

“They got the ball to the big guy and he hurt us bad,” Ocean View Coach Jim Harris said. “I think we played a little afraid inside.”

Hart grabbed its first lead, 47-46, since the first quarter on a baseline jump shot by Steffe. From there, the game resembled a table tennis match.

With 2 minutes 7 seconds remaining, Hart Coach Greg Herrick was whistled for a technical after Peek was charged with his third foul within a minute.

Ocean View’s Jim Harris, the coach’s son, sank two free throws and Chris Beehler added one to give the Seahawks a 62-60 lead.

Ocean View seemed poised to win with a 64-60 lead with 1:28 to play, but Stephens made a basket and a foul shot to pull Hart to within a point.

After two free throws by Harris, Hart’s David Sanders tied the score on a three-point basket with 40 seconds to play.

“I’m relieved,” Herrick said. “We stepped up and played some defense, which has not been our forte this season.”

“Ocean View is a very good team,” Peek said. “All the way they were aggressive.”

Ocean View struggled to an 18-15 first-quarter lead, largely by denying Peek the ball. Peek attempted only three shots.

Brian Knox connected on a pair of three-point shots, the second giving the Seahawks a 16-15 lead.

Knox added another three-point basket in the opening seconds of the second quarter and Ocean View began to pull away. Harris’ three-point basket extended the lead to 24-15 two minutes into the period.