Locals off to good starts

The Ocean View boys’ basketball team went 4-0 over the past week to win the title of the San Luis Obispo Tournament.

The Seahawks began their season with a 67-48 win over San Marcos. Anthony Pancoast scored 14 points and had six rebounds and Brandon Ishimoto scored 12 points and finished with 10 assists. Ocean View then disposed of Santa Cruz, 74-31, getting 24 points from Takeshi Clifford and 11 assists from Ishimoto.

In semifinal round action, Clifford had 15 points and seven rebounds and Ishimoto 13 points and nine assists as the Seahawks edged host San Luis Obispo, 67-64. In the tournament final, Clifford had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Ishimoto recorded eight points, seven assists and five rebounds, as Ocean View routed Lompoc, 56-32.

The Seahawks jumped out to a 19-2 first-quarter lead and went on to out-rebound the Braves, 50-16.

Pancoast was named the tournament’s MVP, and Clifford and Ishimoto were named all-tournament.

“We came out ready to go,” said Ocean View co-head coach Jimmy Harris. “We’re still a bit behind in our conditioning because of our gym renovation situation and we’re still trying to find our legs, but it’s a great start to the season.”

Huntington Beach finished runner-up to Santa Margarita at the Coyote Classic at Buena Park High. The Oilers went 3-1 in the tournament, losing only to the Eagles.

In the 75-55 loss to Santa Margarita, in which the Oilers trailed by just four points at the half, guard Trevor Carroll, a four-year starter, left the game because of an injury to his right knee. He suffered the injury during a 72-62 overtime victory over Sonora, said Oilers Coach Fabian Luna.

Huntington opened its season with a 66-53 tournament win over Laguna Hills. Zach Kimber led the Oilers with 25 points and seven rebounds while Nick Becker scored 16 points to go along with five assists and three steals and Carroll had 13 rebounds. Next, the Oilers outscored Long Beach Jordan by 16 points in the fourth quarter to pull out an 81-73 victory. Becker had 21 points and seven assists, Carroll 21 points and seven rebounds and Kimber a game-high 26 points and eight rebounds.

The Oilers also scored a 72-62 overtime victory over Sonora with Becker scoring 29 points, Kimber 17 and Carroll 13 points.

“I was very pleased with our performance at the tournament,” Luna said.

On Monday, Huntington started play at the La Quinta Tournament and defeated host La Quinta, 72-64. Becker and Kimber each netted 22 points and Nick Neser had 14 points.

Marina began its season Tuesday against Brea and the Vikings, who set a national record for three-point baskets in a season last year, picked up where they left off: They hit 19 three-point baskets but lost in overtime, 96-91.

Garrett James, who scored 27 points, had seven three-pointers one of which he scored with two seconds left to push the game into overtime. Brendan Holmes ended up with five three-pointers and 17 points and Jimmy Irvin scored 12 points.

“We played hard and it was a good game,” said Vikings Coach Roger Holmes. “We really didn’t string together any good runs and didn’t shoot with consistency.”

Marina was only eight for 18 from the foul line.

Edison also opened play Monday at the La Quinta Tournament and the Chargers posted a 58-49 win over Brentwood. The Chargers’ Kyle Boswell led all scorers with 27 points and Eric Ferraro scored 15.

Edison opened its season Nov. 30 and dropped a 55-37 nonleague game to visiting El Toro. Boswell scored 16 points and Ferraro 14.

In girls’ basketball

Two local teams battled for the championship of the Century Tournament title Saturday and it was Edison that took the crown following a 50-26 win over Huntington Beach. Bonnie Samuelson of Edison led all scorers with 20 points and Mary Madden added 14 points.

Noelani Viloria scored 12 points to pace Huntington.

Edison rolled to the title with easy wins over Irvine (61-36), Santa Ana (61-20) and El Dorado (58-34). Samuelson poured in 33 points in the win over Irvine.

Huntington had reached the title game for the second-straight year by defeating JSerra (41-39), Estancia (75-34) and Sea View League rival Northwood (57-51). Viloria had 20 points in the win over Estancia and 27 in the win over Northwood.

Like the boys’ team, Ocean View’s girls also traveled north to open the season, went 4-0 and captured the Valley Christian Tournament title in Santa Maria.

Marina began its season Saturday at the South Coast Tournament at University High in Irvine and the Vikings fell in pool play to Laguna Hills, 52-49.

In girls’ cross-country

The Edison’s girls’ cross-country team earned a seventh-place finish in the Division II race at the CIF-State Cross-Country Championships.

The Chargers, who needed to receive an at-large berth just to get into the CIF-Southern Section prelims meet Nov. 17 at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, came into the Nov. 24 state meet unranked.

Junior Hillary Hayes (17:57) took seventh-place individually to pace the Edison contingent at Woodward Park in Fresno. Other times for the Chargers: junior Meghan Foley (19:02); senior Kirstin Linder (19:15); junior Melisa Olgun (19:22); sophomore Caroline Yin (20:41); sophomore Dana Jorgensen (20:44) and sophomore Cassandra Owen (20:55).

Senior Christine Babcock of Woodbridge High in Irvine completed an undefeated season and won the girls’ Division II race in a division record-setting time of 17:04.

Newport Harbor won the state division title. Also reaching the awards podium (top three teams) were runner-up Foothill and Ponderosa.