Boys basketball: CdM rally comes up short

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Somewhere, Jack Errion understands.

Corona del Mar High boys basketball coach Paul Orris learned his craft

from the late Sea King coaching legend, including a relentless devotion

to hard-nosed man-to-man defense.

But, when Marina sprinted and shot its way to a 38-18 halftime lead in a

third-round pool play clash at Estancia High’s Coast Christmas Classic

Wednesday, Orris had to shake something up.

“God help me, Jack,” Orris said, when asked about the halftime shift to

zone, a scheme he insists on calling “a matchup man-to-man with different

rules.”

Whatever he called it, it worked, as the Vikings (13-2), who shot 70% in

the fist half (12 for 20), struggled the final 16 minutes.

Meanwhile, CdM (10-4) started hitting open jumpers and scoring in

transition, forcing the Vikings to sweat out their 56-53 victory.

CdM finished the third quarter with an 18-4 run which narrowed the

deficit to 45-36.

The Sea Kings, keyed by senior guards Alec Hanson, Kevin Hansen and Eric

Snell, as well as the inside play of Joel Templeton and Judd Hietbrink,

scored the first six points of the final period and eventually came

within one on Idean Shahangian’s 12-foot runner with 18 seconds left.

Marina missed the front end of a one-and-one with 11 ticks remaining, but

CdM’s driving, twisting layup attempt with four seconds left caromed off

the rim.

Chris DeLuca rebounded for the Vikings, was fouled and sank both free

throws to drop the Sea Kings into tonight’s 5:50 third-place game against

Trabuco Hills.