SUNSET LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Oilers Romp to Victory Over Edison
Huntington Beach Coach Roy Miller pondered the question for a moment and then backed off.
Miller had just watched his team breeze to a 64-45 Sunset League victory over Edison Friday night and the veteran coach was asked if his team could go undefeated in the eight-team league.
“It’s a possibility,” Miller said. “But the second time around in league will be a lot tougher. Teams will make adjustments, and I’m sure everyone is going to be a lot more familiar with our offense.
“We have a big game with Ocean View on Jan. 30, and I’m sure they’re just waiting to play us in their gym.”
Huntington Beach (17-3, 7-0 in league) was hardly tested in the first round of league play and its game against Edison was another mismatch. The Oilers put Edison away early, outscoring the Chargers, 17-6, in the second quarter with some excellent defense and hot shooting.
Guard Tommy Walden scored nine of his 17 points in the quarter and gave Huntington Beach its biggest lead of the half, 32-16, when he stole a pass and scored on a layup with 2 minutes 11 seconds remaining. Walden’s three-point shot got the Oilers rolling earlier in the period.
Edison (12-6, 4-3) committed 11 turnovers in the first half but managed to fight back with some accurate three-point shooting in the third quarter. Ben Beard, who finished with 18 points, hit two consecutive three-pointers and Micah Kroeger added another three-pointer to slice Huntington Beach’s 14-point halftime lead to seven points, 38-31, with 5:02 remaining in the third quarter.
But Huntington Beach’s Chris Jones answered with two baskets and teammate Tony Gonzalez added a follow shot to keep the Oilers comfortably ahead, 48-34, going into the last quarter.
“We did a good job defensively,” Miller said. “All year long, we’ve been working on defense. We’ve had some off-nights offensively, but our defense has been consistently good all season.
“My biggest concern coming into this game was controlling the tempo. Edison likes to control the tempo if the game is close, but we shot well, rebounded and kept the turnovers down.
“If we can keep the turnovers under 10 (the Oilers had nine against Edison) and shoot a decent percentage (they made 29 of 49 shots), we should win.”
Gonzalez had 16 points for Huntington Beach.
In other league games:
Fountain Valley 58, Westminster 42--Brandon Leimbach had 20 points and seven rebounds for visiting Fountain Valley (11-6, 5-2), which led, 46-31, after three quarters. Bobby Ishii had 15 points for Westminster (7-11, 1-6).
Santa Ana 43, Servite 42--Guard Joe Boyd hit a 15-footer with 20 seconds remaining in the game to give host Santa Ana (6-11, 2-5) the victory. Freddie Mora was high-scorer for Santa Ana with 16 points. Servite is 5-11, 1-6.
Ocean View 60, Marina 55--Jim Harris had 23 points and seven assists for visiting Ocean View (10-6, 6-1). Vlad Nieto scored 30 points for Marina (9-10, 2-5), which has lost four consecutive league games.