Edison grabs share of league title

HUNTINGTON BEACH — With the Sunset League boys’ basketball championship on the line Thursday night, the Edison Chargers came to Marina High knowing what they needed to do in order to earn a piece of the big prize.

How they did it, was most impressive.

Not showing the stress of what was at stake, the Chargers went about things in a business-like fashion from the get-go, played relaxed and, well, played their brand of basketball.

“We came in here focused and didn’t have any jitters, at all,” senior guard Dylan Garrity said. “We knew what we had to do and we really came out on a mission from the start.”

The result? Garrity scored 26 points for the game, Edison scored the first 26 points of the game and the Chargers won comfortably, 70-44.

The victory allowed Edison to win a share of the Sunset crown, its first league title in six years. It also was the 24th victory of the season for the Chargers which is a regular-season record for the program and ties for the most wins in school history for an entire season.

The Chargers have lost just twice this year, to Huntington Beach and two nights ago to Los Alamitos, by a combined three points.

They never were in danger of falling a third time tonight. They eliminated whatever drama there could have been in the game’s first minute when they took a 5-0 lead. That lead continued to balloon throughout the opening quarter and reached its pinnacle at 26-0. The Vikings briefly stopped the bleeding when Jordon Adnams hit two free throws with 21 seconds left in the quarter.

The drama on the night, however, was happening a few miles away at Fountain Valley High where the Barons held their own against Los Alamitos before the Giffins hung on for a 53-51 win that allowed them to share the league title with Edison.

The Chargers knew late in the game that Fountain Valley had Los Alamitos on the ropes.

“But it really didn’t matter,” Edison Coach Rich Boyce said of learning the Fountain Valley-Los Alamitos score. “We were only worried tonight with what we could do. We came in here with the idea of playing really good defense and moving the ball on offense. I thought we did a nice job of that. The only surprise, and I was very surprised, is that we were up 26-0.”

“It’s cool, for sure, to win a championship,” Garrity said. “It would have been nice to win it outright but to go into the playoffs with the No. 1 seed from our league, is a great feeling.”

Edison’s biggest lead in the first half was 27 points (37-10) when Dreon Barlett scored on a bank shot off an assist from Garrity. The Chargers led, 43-14 at the half and achieved their biggest lead of the night, 50-16, when Barlett scored off a lob from senior Kris Wolfe one minute into the second half.

Barlett finished with 21 points and Wolfe had six points.

Adnams scored 12 points to lead Marina which finished 2-8 in league and saw its season come to an end.

Edison will learn Sunday who it will play next week in the opening round of the playoffs when the CIF Southern Section office reveals the postseason pairings.

Boyce isn’t concerned with who his team will draw. He’s just proud of his squad’s achievements.

“We came into the year with just three returners and people predicted us to win 12 or 13 games,” he said. “But this team has proved otherwise. It’s a good group of seniors and a good group of kids who play well together. I’m very thrilled for them and what they’ve accomplished.”

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Other Sunset League boys’ basketball scores from Thursday:

Los Alamitos 53, Fountain Valley 51

Huntington Beach 49, Newport Harbor 42

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Girls’ Basketball

Sunset League

Edison 73, Marina 30

Huntington Beach 61, Newport Harbor 48

Los Alamitos 53, Fountain Valley 12

Golden West League

Ocean View 49, Santa Ana 21