Oilers dump Warriors, ready for El Toro

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Huntington Beach, as expected, took care of business Friday night.

Now, the Oilers can turn their full attention to El Toro.

Huntington set up an early-season showdown in the chase for first place in the Sea View League Friday by defeating visiting Woodbridge. The Oilers used a big second half to pull away from the Warriors to win for the fourth time in as many league starts, 62-48.

The victory put Huntington at 17-3 overall and sends the Oilers onward to a Wednesday game against defending league champ El Toro. The Chargers also improved to 4-0 in league Friday by defeating Foothill.

Game time is 7 p.m. Wednesday at El Toro.

“We have a big one next week,” Huntington Coach Fabian Luna said. “Our guys will be ready for El Toro. We’re excited to play them.”

The Oilers made sure not to look past a Woodbridge team that had won only one of its first three league games, although the Warriors lost by just three points to Foothill and by two to El Toro in their last two league outings.

Huntington led, 13-11, after one quarter and took a 32-29 lead at the half. The Oilers began to exert control in the third quarter, opened up a 49-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter where they clamped down defensively and limited the Warriors to just six points.

“I thought we did a nice job of buckling down in that third quarter,” Luna said. “We really turned up the defensive pressure. I was really happy to see that effort.

“I also thought in the second half we made a great effort to hit the glass effectively. That helped us take control.”

The OIiers’ Zach Kimber led all scorers with 18 points. David Swartz scored 13, David Clark nine, Neil Negrete eight, Nick Neser seven and Jordan Castaneda and Mackey Clustka each scored three points.

Senior center Yannick Kulich led Woodbridge with 16 points.

Now, it’s on to El Toro for the Oilers.

Huntington was ranked third in this week’s Division II-AA poll.

El Toro is No. 6 in Division I-A.

“I like our match-up with them this year,” said Luna whose team finished second to El Toro in last year’s league race. “I think we can flush the ball inside on them. If we execute and stay within our game plan, we will be fine. They like to play a match-up zone so we will have to be ready for that.”

Other games

 Marina holds off Esperanza

Marina took a 47-31 on host Esperanza into the fourth quarter then withstood a furious rally by the Aztecs to hold on for a 61-59 victory.

“We were up comfortably but then they just caught fire,” said Roger Holmes whose Vikings improved to 4-0 in league and 17-3 overall. “We were able to hit our free throws down the stretch to hold them off.

“To get a road win in this league is big and now, we’re 3-0 on the road. This was a good win.”

Esperanza, which hit a three-point shot at the buzzer to make it a three-point game, fell to 3-2 in league.

Brendan Holmes connected on five three-point shots and went on to post a game-high 27 points for Marina. Garrett James added 11 points.

The win sets up a Monday showdown at home against Los Alamitos. The winner of that game takes over sole possession of first place and will complete the first half of league play at 5-0.

Marina will bring a nine-game win streak into the match-up.

Los Al, meanwhile, is 19-1 overall and has won 17-straight since losing to Martin Luther King back on Dec. 5. On Friday, the Griffins withstood a second-half comeback attempt by host Edison to defeat the Chargers, 66-56. James Walker scored 19 points and Clark Evans had 10 points in the win. Edison’s Ryan Walker topped all scorers with 20 points. Dylan Garrity had 15 points and Jordan Zumwalt 13 for the Chargers (2-3).

The Vikings are ranked fourth in this week’s Division II-AA poll

The Griffins are No. 5 in Division I-AA poll.

Tip off is 7 p.m.

“Los Al is really good,” Roger Holmes said. “They are 10-deep and one of the top teams in southern California. We will have to play a solid game and take care of the little details in order to win this one.”

The Vikings begin the second round of league play Wednesday hosting Fountain Valley. The Vikings will be out to complete a season sweep of the Barons.

Marina won the first meeting between the teams, 61-54, on the opening night of league play Jan. 9.

 Fountain Valley 34, Newport Harbor 31

Niles Marquez (14 points) and Chris Lee (13) combined to score 27 of Fountain Valley’s 34 points as the Barons won their first league game of the season.

Fountain Valley is now 1-3 in league and next will play at Marina on Jan. 30.

Newport Harbor fell to 0-4.

Ocean View 72, Westminster 42

Avery Johnson had a triple-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with four steals, as the host Seahawks romped past the Lions (1-4) in Golden West League play Friday.

Anthony Brown and Ryan Okwudibonye each scored 13 points and Billy Keller had 12 as Ocean View continues to lead the league with a 5-0 mark.

The Seahawks play at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Segerstrom.

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.