In a league of their own

Mike Sciacca

It’s been a long haul during nonleague play for the Ocean View High

boys’ basketball team, but the many travels and tournament games

during the first month of the season will take a backseat to

familiarity beginning Friday. At 7 p.m., Ocean View will open Golden

West League play.

The race for the Sunset League boys’ basketball championship also

begins Friday with a full slate of rivalry games: Edison is at

Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach entertains Marina, and Los Alamitos

visits Esperanza.

Tonight, though, the two leagues launch their girls’ races.

In Sunset League girls’ basketball at 7 p.m., it’s rivalry night

as defending champion Edison hosts Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach

goes to Marina, and Esperanza travels to Los Alamitos.

In Golden West League basketball, defending champion Ocean View

plays host to Saddleback at 7 p.m.

The Ocean View boys’ basketball team began its season in Texas at

the Lone Star Invitational, but will be home for its Golden West

League opener Friday against Saddleback.

Don’t let the Seahawks’ 6-6 record fool you. They’ve gone through

a tough nonleague schedule that included hosting its own Tournament

of Champions.

And regardless of the record, Ocean View will be the team to beat

in the Golden West race. The school has dominated the league, winning

the last six titles.

“We don’t think repeating will be easy, but we want to be in the

position to be the team to beat,” Ocean View co-head coach Jimmy

Harris said. “It will be an interesting league race, definitely.”

The main threat to Ocean View’s dominance in the league might come

from Costa Mesa, with Estancia and Santa Ana figuring to put up a

fight.

Ocean View has been led by its two senior captains, guard John

Greiner, whom Harris calls the team’s “leader by example,” and

forward Nick Kosearas, the team’s “vocal leader.”

“I think we’re ready for the race,” Harris said. “I think we came

out of nonleague play a little smarter as a team. It was a tough

beginning, because this group has been learning how to play with each

other.

“John and Nick have led us so far, and for the most part, I’m

pretty proud of this team and what it has learned during nonleague

play.”

The Sunset League boys’ basketball race could be a wide-open

affair, as several teams have had successful nonleague runs.

Edison, for example, returned home last week with the championship

trophy from the Walter Wong Tournament in Hawaii. Huntington Beach,

meanwhile, captured third place at the Katella Classic, and Marina on

Monday put the works on Westminster, a Golden West League rival of

Ocean View’s, 90-43.

If any one team could be considered the favorite, it might be

Esperanza.

On the girls’ side, Ocean View will be out to win another league

crown under second-year coach Jim Harris (who shares boys’ head

coaching duties with son, Jimmy). The Seahawks enter tonight’s game

against Saddleback coming off a 49-29 nonleague loss to Villa Park

Monday.

The road to the 2005 Sunset League girls’ basketball championship

runs through Edison and Esperanza. So says Marina Coach Butch

Fredlow, whose Lady Vikings host Huntington Beach tonight.

Marina is 9-5 overall and finished seventh at last week’s Larry

Doyle Orange County Championships, a tournament it co-hosted with

Edison. In the tournament’s seventh-place game, the Lady Vikings

defeated Woodbridge, the county’s eighth-ranked team, and went 3-1,

overall.

They also went 3-1 at a tournament in Henderson, Nev., reaching

the championship game.

“I think we’re doing fine,” Fredlow said. “We played a tough

nonleague schedule which I think, hopefully, has us ready for league

play.

“But I think if any team has aspirations of winning the Sunset

League, they have to go through Esperanza and Edison to win it.

That’s not to discount any of the other teams, but I see those two

teams as the teams to beat.”