Dream almost reality

LOS ANGELES — All year long, the Ocean View High boys’ basketball team has been known as an outside shooting team, but few thought the Seahawks could shoot themselves this far.

After a 79-63 victory over Harvard-Westlake on Saturday in the CIF State Division III Southern California regional championship game at UCLA, Ocean View now shoots for a state title.

Senior guard Mason Jones had 22 points and junior guard Anthony Brown added 19, helping Ocean View (27-7) continue to take its program to heights never before seen in co-Coach Jim Harris’ 31 years at the helm.

“I’m on a great ride with these young men, and we’re enjoying the heck out of it,” said Harris, whose team will play Sacred Heart Cathedral for the Division III state title at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Sacramento’s Arco Arena. “I think that’s kind of why we’re confident. We’re not looking at it as pressure. We’re just looking at it as pure enjoyment. That’s how we should look at it. These are young guys, and they make me feel young.”

In previous action, the Seahawks outlasted Canyon of Anaheim in the regional semifinals March 12, 66-57, behind 26 points from Jones.

As they have been doing a lot during their magical playoff run, the Seahawks made a statement early against Harvard-Westlake. They poured in 28 points in the first quarter, including five of six from beyond the arc, to jump out to an 11-point lead.

Jones, Brown and Avery Johnson all hit from beyond the arc, and junior guard Aaron Delgado also hit a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter. For the game, the Seahawks made 10 of 18 three-pointers.

“We’re a good-shooting team,” Jones said. “Good-shooting teams continue to shoot the ball well. That’s been our mind-set all year: shoot the ball.”

Top-seeded Harvard-Westlake (27-7) came out trying to trap the Seahawks with a 2-2-1 zone press, but second-seeded Ocean View figured it out quickly enough. It was the Wolverines who turned the ball over more early, six times in the first quarter.

“At first, they started off in a zone press, so we figured that we wanted to move the ball around,” Brown said. “Then they switched to the man press, and I saw that I had a bigger, slower guy on me. I just wanted to take it to the basket and attack the rim.”

Ocean View opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run, giving the Seahawks a 19-point lead and forcing a Harvard-Westlake timeout. Included in the run was a triple from Jones and a rare three-pointer from junior center Ryan Okwudibonye, who had 15 points of his own.

Harvard-Westlake cut it to 11 late in the quarter, but another big three-pointer from Jones and a lay-up by junior center Chris Martinez made it a more comfortable 65-49 advantage headed into the fourth quarter.

“It’s very frustrating,” Harvard-Westlake Coach Greg Hillard said. “We tried to take away the three and we found out they could drive. At that point, it was, ‘What else can you do?’ ”

Johnson scored six and Billy Keller had five for Ocean View.

Johnson tweaked his ankle in the second half, but said after the game that it shouldn’t be an issue for the Division III state title game on Saturday.

Harvard-Westlake was led by junior guard Austin Kelly, who had 16 points.

Sophomore forward Damiene Cain had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Wolverines, who out-rebounded Ocean View, 38-26.

The Seahawks, the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA champions who have won 19 of their last 20 games, now move on for one final goal: a state title.

“If you guys watch college basketball, a lot of underdog teams are winning,” Jones said. “For the most part, during CIF and State, people had us as underdogs and not winning.

“Look at us now.”

STATE PREVIEW

WHO

 Ocean View (27-7) vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral (27-4)

WHAT

 CIF State Division III Championship Game

WHEN

 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Arco Arena, Sacramento

PROBABLE STARTING FIVES

Ocean View: Mason Jones (Sr., G, 13.1 PPG); Anthony Brown (Jr., G, 12.1 PPG); Avery Johnson (Jr., G, 12.1 PPG); Billy Keller (Jr., G, 8.4 PPG); Aaron Delgado (Jr., G, 4.6 PPG). Sacred Heart: Nate Gartrell (Sr., G/F); Daryl Cooper (Sr., G); Karl Reyes (Jr., G); Jerry Brown (Sr., F); Kevin Greene (Sr., F/C).

OUTLOOK

Sacred Heart, a team from San Francisco, won the Division III NorCal title Saturday with a 77-65 victory over Sacramento.

The Fightin’ Irish, coached by Darrell Barbour, are like Ocean View in that they’ve never won a state title.

But Sacred Heart, which starts four seniors, boasts two big-time players inside in Brown and Greene. Both stand 6 feet 5, and Greene is headed to USC to play football as a defensive end.

Greene had 22 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Sacramento, while Brown added 14 points.

Ocean View co-Coach Jim Harris said Sacred Heart will try to press the Seahawks, just like Harvard-Westlake did in the Southern California regional final.

“They have a stud inside, and he seals well,” Harris said. “He’s real quick off the ground. He seems to be the key. [Their players] have their roles and play them well. They like to drive a lot and get you in foul trouble.”

Harris noted that Sacred Heart has already played at Arco Arena in the NorCal final. But he isn’t afraid of his young team coming out nervous.

“The schedule we’ve played, we’ve seen just about everything,” he said. “I think we’re ready.”

HEADED NORTH

Can’t make the trip to Sacramento? No worries. Independent reporter Matt Szabo will be there blogging live during the 2:45 p.m. title game Saturday. Follow all the action at www.hbindependent.com.