Viking boys earn share of Sunset hoop title

Mike Sciacca, Independent

Back on January 19, the Marina High boys basketball team needed

Beau Brown’s layup at the buzzer in overtime to pull out a 63-61 win at

Esperanza.

The Vikings needed no such magic when the two teams met up again Tuesday

night at Marina, but they were able to conjure up a portion of the 2000

Sunset League championship.

With just about everybody having a hand in the victory, Marina was able

to take a 69-59 win from a tough Esperanza squad.

The victory moved Marina to 9-0 in league play and gave the Vikings no

worse than a tie for the league title, the school’s first since 1992.

The Vikings, who extended their win streak to 16 and improved to 23-2

overall, can wrap up an outright championship tonight with a win at Los

Alamitos.

The Griffins (8-1) can move into a first place tie by beating Marina,

which handed Los Alamitos its only league loss back on Jan. 21.

“It’s a great feeling to win no less than a share of the league

championship,” Marina Coach Roger Holmes said. “It’s been a long process

to get to this point, but the kids aren’t about to stop here. We have a

very tough game Thursday at Los Alamitos, and their gym should be packed.

Our kids better come hungry to play.”

Marina led 35-27 at the half, yet could not shake the Aztecs (13-12,

5-4), who pulled to within one point, 39-38, with 4:30 left in the third

quarter. But three-point baskets by Justin Maranto, Dustin Kaatz, and

Beau Brown helped the Vikings open up a 48-42 advantage.

Esperanza still was only down 58-54 late in the fourth quarter when

Maranto, off a nice cross court pass from Eric Duke, drilled a

three-point shot to extend the Viking lead to seven, 61-54, with 3:35 to

play.

The Aztecs could get no closer than six points the rest of the way.Kaatz,

who came in averaging 23 points, scored a game-high 28 points. Brown

finished with 17, and it was his offensive output at the outset of the

second quarter, which included scoring eight of Marina’s first 12 points

of the period, that helped put the Vikings in control with their first

double digit lead of the night.

Duke had a big game off the bench. The senior center came up with some

key rebounds, hit a big bank shot early in the fourth quarter to up

Marina’s lead to five points, and also hit three crucial free throws down

the stretch.

Junior forward Chris DeLuca was tough on the boards for the Vikings,

before fouling out with 4:06 left in the game.

Marina wasn’t the only local team to gain a share of a championship

Tuesday as defending Sunset League girls basketball champion Edison won a

piece of the Sunset crown by running away from rival Fountain Valley,

64-27.

The Ziemann twins, Rachael and Bianca, scored 19 and 13 points,

respectively, and senior post Michelle Zylstra added 10 points and

dominated the boards with 22 rebounds as the Chargers, who led just 23-18

at the half, outscored the Barons, 41-9, in the second half.

Edison, now 17-8 overall and 8-1 in league play, can claim an outright

title tonight with a win in the regular season finale at Huntington

Beach. The Chargers lead Esperanza (19-6, 7-2), which wraps up its league

schedule tonight at Fountain Valley, by one game in the standings.