Marina keeps rolling along

Mike Sciacca, Independent

Not even a week’s layoff could derail the Marina express.

The Vikings continued on their roll Friday night by beginning the second

half of Sunset League boys basketball race the same way they launched

their bid for a league championship earlier in the month - by defeating

Edison.

Marina was able to do in the second half of play what it loves to do best

- penetrate and kick the ball out, and the visiting Vikings also were

able to hit the open shot and ended up with a 71-56 victory on a night

when Edison named its gymnasium in honor of the late Dave Mohs, a former

Charger boys basketball and girls volleyball coach.

Marina’s win streak now stands at a lucky 13, and the victory put the

Vikings at the 20-win plateau for the season.

They are now 20-2 overall

Dustin Kaatz may well be on his way to being named the Sunset Player of

the Year, especially if he continues at the pace he’s been going. He

poured in 34 points against the Chargers, and it was the scoring of the

6-foot-5 senior forward, who came into the ballgame averaging 22.8

points, that allowed Marina to grab a 20-15 first quarter lead.

In the opening eight minutes, Kaatz, who missed his first two shots from

the floor, went on to score 15 points.

Edison (7-12, 1-5) played tough man-to-man early on, but Kaatz finally

found his groove.

“He’s just a great player,” Edison Coach Corey Kelly said. “He can hurt

you from inside and the outside. You really have a hard time containing

him.”

With Marina clinging to a 30-28 halftime lead, guard Beau Brown, just as

he has done the past few games, opened the second half with a three-point

play to boost the Vikings into a five-point lead. Their lead expanded to

11, 41-30, on consecutive three-point baskets by Justin Maranto and Kaatz

early in the third quarter, but when Kaatz picked up his third personal

foul on a charge with 2:46 left, he went to the bench.

With Kaatz out, Edison was able to draw to within 47-41 heading into the

final period.

The Chargers trimmed the deficit to four, 47-43, when Richard Schwartz

scored on a baseline drive, and still were within five, 50-45, on Matt

Gonzales’ lay-in with 6:54 to play. A key sequence came when Kaatz had an

off-balance lay-in roll in and out, and the Chargers retained possession

with a chance to further cut into the Marina lead. However, Kyle McCarter

missed a flat-footed attempt from three-point range at the 6:20 mark,

Marina’s Eric Duke grabbed the rebound, and the Vikings went on to get

two free throws from Kaatz at the other end of the floor for a 52-47

lead.

Once Marina’s lead dwindled to five points, the Vikings went to a zone

defense, and it caused problems for the Chargers, who missed shots on

three consecutive trips down court. But after two Kaatz’s two foul shots,

the shooting spree began.

Over the course of the next three minutes, the two teams combined for an

amazing seven consecutive three-point baskets, which began with Brown’s

three-pointer at 5:52 to boost Marina back into a double-digit lead,

55-45. Gonzales answered for Edison, Maranto came right back with a trey,

which was followed by Kaatz, then Edison’s Steve Henderson sandwiched a

pair of three-pointers around Brown’s fifth three-point shot of the

night.

When Gonzales finally missed from the arc with 2:33 left, Maranto put the

game away when he nailed a three-pointer again, this time from the left

corner, for a 67-54 Marina lead.

“You know, once we get going, like we did in the second half, we are a

pretty good team,” Marina Coach Roger Holmes said. “I thought we did a

nice job of penetrating and kicking the ball out, especially in the

fourth quarter, and we did a nice job of hitting the open shot. I have a

lot of confidence in these kids, and we have quite a few who are capable

of hitting in the open.”

Marina hit five of seven three-point shots in the fourth quarter, and

Brown went on to finish with 17 points.

Henderson, a 6-5 senior center and a transfer from Mater Dei, led Edison

with 17 points. Gonzales added 12 points and Schwartz scored 10.

Holmes returns to his alma mater next Wednesday (7 p.m.) when he leads

Marina against host Fountain Valley. Edison also will hit the road to

take on second place Los Alamitos.