SUNSET LEAGUE BOYS’ BASKETBALL : Fountain Valley Turns Tables, Stays in Race

The Fountain Valley boys’ basketball team settled a score Friday night by defeating Servite, 52-51, at Fountain Valley.

The victory avenged a 62-38 loss and kept Fountain Valley’s hopes of a Sunset League title very much alive while dealing a blow to Servite’s. Fountain Valley is 15-5 and 7-2; Servite is 13-7 and 6-3.

“These games are real important,” Fountain Valley Coach Gordon Billingsley said. “With the second half (of the regular season) starting, you can’t afford to get more than two games back of Huntington Beach (8-1 in league).”

The Barons’ Phil Domingo hit two free throws with 22 seconds left to give Fountain Valley the lead.

Kristian Vallas missed an opportunity to win it for Servite with two seconds left when his baseline jump shot fell short.

“The first time we played them, we shot really poor,” Billingsley said. “Tonight we got production from our bench. They pretty much kept us in the game.”

Servite controlled the first quarter, jumping to a 17-13 lead. But Daniel Keller’s nine second-quarter points pulled the Barons to within one at halftime, 30-29.

Fountain Valley went ahead, 41-40, in the third quarter as Domingo scored six of his 14 points. He also finished with nine rebounds.

“Phil just played really well in the second half after getting into some foul trouble,” Billingsley said.

Fountain Valley put together a 9-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to take a 50-44 lead. And Mark Seaton, Servite’s second-leading scorer this season, fouled out with 3 minutes 27 seconds left. He finished with eight points and six rebounds.

But Brian Severin’s layup and free throw and Vallas’ two jump shots gave Servite the lead, 51-50, with 30 seconds left.

David Downs led Servite with 13 points.

In other league games:

Huntington Beach 65, Santa Ana 27--Tony Gonzalez had 17 points and eight rebounds and Matt Malmquist added 11 points for host Huntington Beach (14-7, 8-1), the county’s 10th-ranked team.

Edison 57, Ocean View 45--Micah Kroeger had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Ben Beard added 14 points for host Edison (11-7, 4-5).

Dan McDonald scored 10 points for Ocean View (11-10, 6-3).

Marina 78, Westminster 58--Eric Endsley had 18 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots for Marina (9-12, 3-6).

Andy Nieto added 17 points and seven assists for Marina.

Westminster is 5-16 and 1-8.