SUNSET LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Huntington Beach Responds to Third-Quarter Wake-Up Call
A lethargic crowd and Fountain Valley’s deliberate offense almost put second-ranked Huntington Beach to sleep in the first half. But Tony Gonzalez woke up the Oilers in the third quarter by scoring 11 of his game-high 20 points and Huntington won, 69-45, at Fountain Valley.
Huntington Beach Coach Roy Miller said he could excuse the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm.
“I think the bad weather and the mid-week game had a lot to do with that,” said Miller, who added that his team’s uninspired first-half play couldn’t be excused.
“I was real concerned,” he said. “We were giving up too many easy shots. We were putting pressure on the ball but we weren’t coming up with any turnovers and they were getting layups.”
Fountain Valley (8-6, 2-2 in league) trailed, 18-14, after the first quarter and 29-24 with 3:40 left in the half after Ara Petrosian’s three-pointer. But Tommy Walden’s three-point play, Jay Shubin’s three-point basket and Walden’s pull-up jumper in the lane gave the Oilers (14-3, 4-0) a 37-25 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, Huntington Beach picked up the tempo and started going to Gonzalez.
Smart move.
Gonzalez, a muscular, 6-foot-5 junior forward, responded by scoring six of his team’s first eight points for a 45-28 lead. His last basket of the stretch came after he blocked a shot and dribbled the length of the court.
“They were in that zone again and I was having trouble getting shots in the first half,” said Gonzalez, who scored nine points in the first half. “Usually, it takes us awhile to break zones.”
Huntington Beach’s guards, Bryan Chang and Walden, negated Fountain Valley’s slow-down offense and zone defense by creating turnovers with their perimeter pressure, leading to easy baskets for the Oilers.
“They tried to slow it down, but our guards are too good for that,” said Gonzalez, who also had a game-high nine rebounds.
Gonzalez also proved too good for Fountain Valley’s inside people. Every time he touched the ball inside, he either got an easy basket or was fouled.
By the end of the third quarter, the Oilers led, 59-37.
Chang and Walden finished with 11 points and Matt Ambrose added 10. Brandon Leimbach led Fountain Valley with 14 points.
In other Sunset League games:
Edison 57, Marina 49--Ben Beard scored 21 points for Edison (11-3, 3-1). Kevin Sullivan led Marina (9-7, 2-2) with 17.
Ocean View 67, Servite 57--Jim Harris led Ocean View (7-6, 3-1) with 22 points and six assists. Mark Seaton led Servite (5-9, 1-3) with 14 points.
Santa Ana 69, Westminster 51--Darnell Adamson had 26 points and 12 rebounds for Santa Ana (5-9, 1-4). Bobby Ishii scored 11 points for Westminster.