Sea Kings hold off Centurions

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- Though it wasn’t ahead often during last year’s

5-22 campaign, the Corona del Mar High boys basketball team showed it

knew what to do with a lead Monday in the opening round of the La

Quinta Aztec Classic.

After riding some sizzling shooting to a 34-23 halftime lead

against Century at Los Amigos High, the Sea Kings endured a

Centurions run, then pulled away for a 62-55 triumph to advance to

tonight’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal against either Huntington Beach or Los

Amigos.

After pushing the advantage to 41-25 with 5:31 left in the third

quarter, CdM answered a 10-0 Century run that included two of the

Centurions’ seven three-pointers, with a 6-2 spurt of its own,

including buckets from seniors Kevin Mancillas and Pancho Seaborn, as

well as junior Jay Northridge.

Though Century (2-1) kept bombing away and tightening up its

defense, CdM maintained enough poise to come away victorious and, for

the second straight game, make second-year coach Ryan Curry proud.

“I was very pleased with our effort,” said Curry, who had similar

praise for his unit after a 53-49 nonleague loss to Newport Harbor

Thursday night. “We haven’t had the situation of holding a lead much,

but I thought we did a nice job of that tonight. (The Centurions) got

it down to six, but we withstood that and built it back up again.”

The lead came courtesy of some extreme sharpshooting, as the Sea

Kings connected on 9 of 15 field-goal attempts in the first quarter

(60%), and finished 14 of 26 for the opening half (54%). Included in

that was an incredible 71.4% from three-point range (5 of 7).

“I tell our guys if we create really good shots, we’re going to be

good shooters,” said Curry, who watched his team execute with

precision and unselfishness against a perennially sound Century

defense.

Curry said sharing the ball and attacking the glass for rebounds

added to the strong shooting performance to spell victory.

“My guys laugh at me, because the answer I have for everything is,

‘Let’s get a rebound,’ ” Curry said. “Whether it’s a turnover, a

missed shot or even a bad call, if we can get a rebound, we’re

usually going to be all right.”

The height-challenged Sea Kings, who don’t have a starter taller

than 6-foot-3, shared the rebounding load as Mancillas led the team

with six, followed by Seaborn and Brandon Sherick-Odom (five apiece).

Seaborn led the way offensively with 19 points, while Mancillas

added 13 and Northridge chipped in 11.

Sherick-Odom had nine points and junior guard Adam Freede came off

the bench to contribute six.

“I thought Pancho had a superb game, both offensively and

defensively,” Curry said. “And Freede came off the bench and got us

two quick steals (both of which he turned into layins) to really

spark us.”

Century received 18 points from 5-8 guard David Sok (including

five three-pointers), while 6-2 forward Ramon Martinez and 6-5 center

Scott Dodge had 15 points apiece.

La Quinta Tournament

First round

CdM 62, Century 55

CdM 21 13 13

15 -- 62

Century 9 14 16

16 -- 55

Corona del Mar -- Seaborn 19, Mancillas 13, Sherick-Odom 9, Northridge 11, Matsen 3, Freede 6, Welch 1.

3-pt. goals -- Mancillas 2, Seaborn 2, Sherick-Odom 1, Northridge

1.

Fouled out -- none.

Technicals -- none.

Century -- Mendoza 15, Torres 2, Dodge 15, Sok 18, Ceja 5.

3-pt. goals -- Sock 5, Mendoza 1, Ceja 1.

Fouled out -- Mendoza.

Technicals -- none.