No easy way out for Seahawks

There are no easy games in the Tournament of Champions boys’ basketball tournament. Host Ocean View can attest to that.

The Seahawks ran into a talented and veteran Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks team in the tournament’s opening game Monday afternoon, and the Knights rode a big first quarter and strong second half to a 77-52 victory.

Notre Dame led, 19-6, after one quarter and was up 32-23 at the half, then pulled away in the second half.

“Notre Dame is a very good team,” Ocean View co-head coach Jimmy Harris said. “They are very physical and very experienced with a lot of senior players. Their guard really made things happen for them.”

That “guard” is Aaron Fisher who scored 20 points. The Knights’ Pierce Brooks topped all scorers with 22 points.

Takeshi Clifford led cold-shooting Ocean View team with 11 points.

The Tournament of Champions continues with action today, Friday and wraps up with consolation and championship-round play on Saturday.

Some of the top teams competing in the prestigious tournament this year include 2006 league champions Dominguez, Villa Park, Loyola, Harvard/Westlake, Centennial of Compton and host Ocean View.

Centennial defeated Harvard/Westlake in last year’s Division III-A final. Villa Park was runner-up last year to Mater Dei and Dominguez and Loyola made the semifinals in Division II-AA.

Aside from Centennial, Harris said there’s another team from Compton to keep an eye on.

“This is a highly competitive tournament, full of very talented teams,” Harris said. “There are several high-powered teams but if you didn’t know about Compton, you will now. They beat up on a very good Harvard/Westlake team Monday.”

In other boys’ action:

In a clash between neighboring schools and former Sunset League rivals, host Edison outscored Huntington Beach by five points in the fourth quarter to overtake the Oilers, 55-52, in La Quinta Tournament action.

Edison’s Kyle Boswell topped all scorers with 19 points and teammate Mike Hoida scored 14 points.

Nicholas Neser scored 17 points to lead Huntington and Nick Becker netted 11.

In the fifth-place game of the tournament, Edison fell to Sunset rival Fountain Valley, 68-53. Boswell, a freshman guard, again led all scorers with 20 points.

Huntington bounced back from the loss to Edison to rout Century, 55-35. Nine Oilers got into the scoring column, led by Becker with 19 points.

Marina opened its season with wins over Brea (105-91), Ontario (93-64) and La Serna (71-68), but then fell 90-76 to host Fullerton in the championship game of the Fullerton Tournament. Mike Kinoshita scored 22 points, Troy Lewis 21 and Garrett James 18 in the loss to Fullerton. Kinoshita hit five and Lewis four of the Vikings’ 13 three-point baskets in the game.

In topping the century mark in its season-opening win over Brea, Lewis nailed seven, three-point shots to finish with 32 points, Kinoshita canned eight three-pointers en route to 28 points and James hit a pair of three-pointers and scored 23 points.

The Vikings hit 19 thee-point shots in the game.

“Our guys did a really great job of getting into the finals,” Marina Coach Roger Holmes said.

In girls’ basketball:

In the third-place game of the South Coast Holiday Classic Saturday, Marina upended Mission Viejo, 42-34. Rita Sitivi scored 12 points, Alyssa Starkey 10 and Emily Boelsems nine for the Vikings.

Huntington suffered its first loss of the season. 59-51, to Bishop Gorman Saturday. Jasmine Erving scored a game-high 21 points and had 10 rebounds, four blocks and two steals and Noe Viloria scored 11 points to go along with 10 assists and nine rebounds for the Oilers, who had opened the season with four consecutive wins en route to winning the Century Tournament title.

In girls’ water polo:

In a nonleague match pitting former Sunset League rivals, host Huntington Beach edged Edison, 6-5 on Dec. 5. The teams were tied 1-1 at the half, 3-3 after three quarters and once more at 5-5, before the Oilers’ Chrissy VanDoornum netted the game-winning goal with two seconds left.

VanDoornum and Kristin Kulakowski led Huntington with two goals each. Nicole Barker and Leah Trelia each scored once, Tasman Backer had three assists and Lauren Reilly had 11 saves.

Monique Wilson led Edison with three goals and came up with three steals. Jamie Bee and Keeley McCormack each scored once, Joanna Tiplea had five steals and Amelia Huss finished with 10 saves.

Two days later, the teams met up again in the Villa Park Classic and this time, Edison recorded a 4-1 victory at Huntington Beach High. The Chargers outscored the Oilers, 3-0 in the fourth quarter, to pull away to the win.

Wilson, Tiplea, Katie Jenkins and Danielle Warde all scored goals. Wilson also had three assists, Jamie Bee had three steals and Huss 11 saves.

Nicole Barker scored on a penalty shot for the Oilers. In other tournament action, Edison also defeated Santa Monica (9-2), Upland (16-7) and Long Beach Poly (8-6), and lost 7-4 to El Toro. The Chargers finished the tournament in ninth-place.

“We came into this early-season tournament searching for our identity as a team,” Edison Coach Diggy Riley said. “I think our team realizes that the key to winning is linked directly to the amount of effort we put forth in the defensive effort of the pool.”

In boys’ soccer:

A nonleague battle between two Huntington Beach schools Friday went to Marina, which scored a 2-0 win over visiting Ocean View.

Todd Locken had a goal and assist, Ian Hatchard scored once, Michael Mitsumori had an assist and Michael Malin had seven saves.

Huntington won its first four matches of the season but was upended Saturday by host Long Beach Millikan, 4-2, in the championship semifinals of the Millikan Tournament.

Alex Sanders and Trevor Pirtle each scored goals and Geo Hernandez and John Shinjo each finished with three saves for the Oilers.

Huntington opened the season with a 2-1 win over Corona del Mar in nonleague play, then scored easy wins over Roosevelt (4-1), Moorpark (4-0) and Thousand Oaks (4-1) at the Millikan Tournament.