Vikings alone at the top
Mike Sciacca, Independent
Round One, Marina.
In the main event of the first half of Sunset League boys basketball play
Friday night, two of the league’s best went toe-to-toe before a full
house, and it was the Marina Vikings who withstood every shot delivered
by visiting Los Alamitos to earn a key 77-66 victory.
In a game of spurts, it was Marina who looked the more polished team
Friday.
The Vikings took advantage of nearly every opportunity that came their
way, hitting the open shot, controlling the tempo of the game. Los
Alamitos appeared out of sync much of the night and missed five
consecutive free throws during a critical stage of the fourth quarter.
But, the difference, overall, was Marina’s ability to hit the three-point
shot.
The Vikings nailed 12 three-pointers.
That was the dagger that did in the Griffins, who didn’t hit a single
trey.
“I’m just really proud of our guys. The did a great job of running our
offense, kicking the ball out, and finishing things by hitting their
shots,” said Marina Coach Roger Holmes, whose squad won its 12th
consecutive game, fifth in league play without a loss, and also stretched
its unbeaten streak in Sunset play to 10 games dating to last season. “We
were able to knock down a couple of huge three point shots, and we fed
off that.”
It was a team victory in every sense for the Vikings, now 19-2 overall.
With starting guards Randy Masada battling flu-like symptoms before the
game and Ryan Redmond struggling on the floor, a third guard, floor
leader Beau Brown, had a tremendous night. Brown, who hit five
three-point shots and the winning basket as time expired in Wednesday’s
dramatic overtime win at Esperanza, opened both the first and second
quarter scoring for Marina with a three-point shot, and went on to finish
with 20 points.
Both Shane Leis and Justin Maranto did superb jobs filling in for Masada
and Redmond, with Leis hitting four three-point shots, and Maranto two
from that range.
Leis scored 12 points and Maranto, who fouled out with 2:22 left in the
game, added eight.
“Those two guys did a tremendous job,” Holmes said. “With both Randy and
Ryan struggling for different reasons, I thought Shane and Justin came in
to make a huge difference on the floor.”
There was no denying that to beat Marina, Los Alamitos had to contain
Viking senior forward Dustin Kaatz.
The Griffins couldn’t, as the 6-foot-5 Kaatz, battling a Los Al front
line that featured 6-9 center Jeff Grgas, 6-8 Ken Carter, and 6-7 Brian
Rakusin, went on to score 28 points - six better than his 22.4 average.
In fact, it was Kaatz’s free throw shooting, an amazing 19 of 20
performance that didn’t include a miss in his final 17 attempts, that
kept Marina in command.
“It was just another great performance by Dustin,” Holmes said. “He was
keyed on throughout, but that didn’t stop him.”
Both teams came up with big runs throughout the ballgame, Los Al staring
the tag-team event with an 8-0 run in the first quarter, and Marina
responded with a 10-0 spurt between the first and second quarters. In
fact, Marina outscored the Griffins, 21-4, to go from a 12-5 deficit into
a 26-16 lead with 5:35 to play in the second quarter.
Marina led 36-29 at the half, and appeared heading for a runaway midway
through the third period when the Vikings opened up a nine-point lead
(44-35) after Leis’ steal led to a Brown three-point basket. But Los Al
fired right back, with guard Ryan Keller scoring four points, including
two on a twisting layup, to ignite a 9-0 Griffins run to tie the score at
44-44 with 2:39 left in the quarter.
The final blow, however, belonged to Marina, which didn’t flinch at the
latest Los Al charge. Instead, Kaatz’s two free throws gave the Vikings
the lead right back, Leis hit from three-point range, Kaatz later would
hit his only three of the night, and later, he kicked out a pass to Leis
behind the arc, and his shot hit nothing but net and just like that, an
11-0 run put the Vikings on top, 55-44.
Chris DeLuca’s free throw with 3:59 remaining gave Marina its biggest
lead, 65-51, and the Griffins could get no closer than eight points the
rest of the way.
“There was plenty riding on this game for both teams, but there’s still
plenty of basketball left to be played,” Holmes said. “I think our guys
are playing with the right mental focus right now. They’re really playing
hard, and playing as a team. That’s what has made this season fun.”
Marina still has four league foes to go, starting next Friday at Edison,
before Round Two will be played out at Los Alamitos on Feb. 10.
There will be plenty riding on that showdown, too.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.