Ocean View’s 21-0 Run in the Fourth Leads to Victory

Ocean View High, according to Coach Jim Harris, has been a streaky team all season.

“Early in the year we’d do it early, then play people even,” Harris said. “Now it’s like we save it for the end.”

That was the case Friday.

Trailing by three points early in the fourth quarter to Magnolia, the Seahawks turned on the jets. They outscored the Sentinels, 21-0, during a four-minute span in the final quarter en route to a 52-41 victory in a quarterfinal game of the Southern Section Division II-A playoffs.

The Seahawks (28-2) play Lakewood Mayfair in a semifinal game at a site to be determined. “I don’t know what we were thinking,” said Seahawk swingman Jeremiah Bell, who finished with 12 points and four steals. “We just couldn’t get into a rhythm.”

The Seahawks (28-2) grabbed their first lead midway through the second quarter and extended it to 22-16 on Casey Ortiz’s buzzer-beating three-pointer.

“That got us pumped,” Ortiz said. “[But] then they came out and turned it on and we slacked off because we thought we had the game won, that it would be easy.”

A basket by Jacob Davis as the third quarter ended capped a Sentinel rally that turned a 10-point deficit into a 32-31 lead. When guard Geoffrey Clayton fed Davis on the opening play of the fourth quarter, Magnolia was up, 34-31.

After that, Magnolia’s seven-player lineup began to wear down and Ocean View, with its superior bench, responded.

Marques Crane’s dunk with 1:30 left punctuated the 21-0 run and put the Seahawks in command, 52-34.

“When we made our run we got the ball off the floor [and passed more] and I thought we would be all right,” said Magnolia Coach Al Walin. “But then we reverted to what we were doing wrong. I think they realized that and capitalized.”

In other Division II-A games:

Lakewood Mayfair 67, Bolsa Grande 32--Third-seeded Mayfair (25-4) outscored Bolsa Grande, 24-3, in the third quarter after the teams were tied at 20 at halftime.

Josh Childress scored 20 points for Mayfair.

Jon James scored 12 points for Bolsa Grande (23-6), which had an 18-game winning streak snapped and ended its season with the most wins in school history.

Lakewood Artesia 94, Laguna Hills 53--Amaury Fernandez scored 20 points and Jack Martinez had 17 for top-seeded Artesia (27-2) at Cerritos Gahr High. Marshall Houser scored 19 points for Laguna Hills (17-11).