Viking boys eye Sunset hoop title

Boy, did the Marina High boys basketball team have some hot fun in

the summertime, or what?

While their friends and fellow classmates might have spent much of their

summer days at the beach or mall hopping, the 14-member strong boys hoop

contingent was busy sweating it out in various gymnasiums, playing single

games, pick-up games, tournament games.

What made it fun - staying indoors, that is - is the Marina was winning

during those summer months. A lot.

“We had a great summer...it was very successful,” Marina Coach Roger

Holmes said. “I was beginning to see that we had a very good team on our

hands, but my only concern was to see how well the players coming up to

the varsity level would handle the transition. I felt if they fit right

in, then we’d have a tough team.”

Marina has been more than tough during the 1999-2000 season.

Putting to rest any trepidation Holmes might have held, the Vikings have

won 14 of their first 16 games, including their last seven in a row.

During that stretch, they won two tournament championships (Foothill,

Estancia), and have worked their way in the county’s conscious.

Now, Marina has set its sight on the Sunset League race, which begins in

earnest Friday with three games on tap. With 12 seniors dotting the

14-player roster, Holmes has his most seasoned roster in his six years at

the school.

What’s more, Marina will be looking to win its first league crown since

1992.

The Vikings host Edison (7-6) Friday at 7 p.m.

“I think we have the talent to go very far,” Holmes said. “The

camaraderie has been there from the start with this team, and the

emergence of a few players has really given us a boost. Plus, our senior

class is, in the very true sense, a product of this program from top to

bottom.”

A majority of Holmes’ current unit has won two to three league titles, as

they began their journey to the varsity level as freshmen or sophomores a

few years back.

But the emergence of one player in particular, senior Dustin Kaatz, has

been the driving force behind Marina’s blazing start.

“He’s definitely been our big key,” Holmes said. “He’s doing it all so

far in his senior year, from scoring, to rebounding, to playing great

defense.”

Kaatz is making his mark this season by averaging, so far, 22.5 points,

10 rebounds, and three assists per game. With the 6-foot-4 forward

roaming inside, the Vikings’ floor leader has been junior guard Beau

Brown, who also started at quarterback last fall on the Marina football

team.

Brown, who is averaging 13.5 points and has hit 44 three-point shots, is

part of a three-guard offense Holmes uses. The other two, seniors Ryan

Redman and Randy Masada, work the point at the same time.

Redman and Masada have averaged 5.1 and 4.3 assists per game,

respectively.

While the averages are solid and reflect the success of the Vikings to

date, Holmes says that the season actually begins all over again on

Friday.

“This is league play, and not to sound so cliche, but each and every

night a team has to be at its best, or it can get beat,” he said. “Our

league is always tough. I mean, Edison and Fountain Valley are playing

well right now, Huntington (Beach) is coming off a key win, Los Alamitos

is always at the top, and Esperanza has the talent, even though their

just 7-8 overall. Two of their wins, though, have come against Newport

Harbor and Brea-Olinda. As you can see, any one of these teams is capable

of beating another.

“The key to our success in league is to stay focused and keep playing

with the same defensive intensity that we’ve been playing with these past

7-10 games. When we play well on defense, it ignites our fastbreak, and

gets us off and running. We like that.”

A quick start out of the gate, as Marina has experienced, would make just

about any coach happy.

“But we have to keep that momentum going, or else that quick start will

have been for nothing,” Holmes added. “These kids seem very focused,

however, and are eager to get the league race underway.”

In addition the the Edison-Marina matchup, other Sunset League boys

basketball openers Friday have Fountain Valley (11-4) playing at Huntington Beach (2-13), and Los Alamitos (12-1) at Esperanza (7-8).

The Sunset League girls basketball race begins tonight at 7 p.m, with

defending champion Edison (8-7) hosting Marina (10-4), Fountain Valley

(7-8) at Huntington Beach (7-5), and rivals Esperanza (10-4) and Los

Alamitos (8-7) tipping off at Los Alamitos.

In Golden West League girls basketball play tonight at 7 p.m., Ocean View

(1-9), which dropped its opener Tuesday to Saddleback (49-22), travels to

Santa Ana (2-10) in the Saints’ league opener.

Ocean View’s boys basketball team, 14-2 overall, will attempt to start

their Golden West League campaign 2-0 Friday when the Seahawks visit

Santa Ana (5-9). Like their female counterpart, the game will be the

league opener for the Saints.

The defending champion Seahawks are led by junior forward Marcus Crane

(23 ppg., 7.8 reb.), senior forward Jeremiah Bell (17.9 ppg., 11.2 reb.),

and senior guard Ryan Westbrook (9.1 assists per game).