Edison Depends on Defense to Trip Up Fountain Valley
Tell Fountain Valley Coach Mike Warrington that Edison would make only two fourth-quarter field goals, and he would surely think his team would win.
Tell Edison Coach Corey Kelly, and he would think the same thing--that his team would win.
And Friday, it did.
Edison scored only five points in the final quarter, but held off Fountain Valley, 47-45, and took sole possession of second place in the Sunset League.
Fountain Valley (11-11, 4-4 in league) had been one of the league’s hottest teams, winning four of its last five games. But the Barons fell as the visiting Chargers (13-8, 5-3) saw the upside of good defense.
Edison, not expected to challenge for the league title, remained one game behind Los Alamitos, which it plays Wednesday; third-place Fountain Valley is two games back with two to play.
Edison limited Eric Edmunds to just eight points--all in the third quarter--and didn’t give up a point in the final 2 minutes 45 seconds as it avenged a 56-48 loss in the previous meeting. In that game, Edmunds scored 15.
“I believe in our team, our ability to play together and our ability to play defense,” said Kelly. “We do whatever it takes to win. We’ve won almost every close game we’ve been in. And tonight, if that means playing ‘D’ and only making two field goals in the fourth quarter, then that’s what it means.”
Those two field goals were crucial. Though a 6-0 run in the final 1:40 of the third quarter--including Logan Saito’s basket underneath at the buzzer--provided a 42-35 cushion going into the fourth quarter, it disappeared quickly. Fountain Valley’s full-court pressure led to an 8-0 run--including consecutive baskets by Sean Burns, one off Nate Rogers’ steal, the other off Rogers’ assist--which made it 43-42, Barons.
But Edison’s Raden Sami (11 points) scored inside and Ian Jennings (15 points) buried a three-pointer with 3:48 left. The Chargers’ 47-43 lead held up.
Jennings was averaging 5.5 points, but worked his way into the starting lineup in recent games.
Sami, Jennings, Hwan Min and Daniel Nehrig rotated on Edmunds. He was three-for-six shooting, but had only two shots in the first half.
“They did a real nice job of keeping the ball out of his hands,” Warrington said.
Real nice all around: no Barons’ starter scored double figures, though Brad Keenan scored 10.
In other Sunset League games:
Esperanza 54, Huntington Beach 53--Pat McCarty scored 14 points and Kevin Brown added 12 for Esperanza (9-15, 2-6).
Los Alamitos 66, Marina 47--Ryan Ellis scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Ricardo Garibay added 16 points for Los Alamitos (14-8, 6-2). Jeff Hung scored 13 points to lead Marina (11-11, 4-4).