UPDATED: Seahawks shocked, can’t repeat

ANAHEIM — Dunks are usually at the ready for the Ocean View High boys’ basketball team.

It’s not a tough equation.

Steals lead to fast-breaks, which lead to dunks and more often than not, Ocean View wins.

Second-seeded Foothill did something about that Saturday night at the Honda Center, out-muscling the top-seeded Seahawks and hanging on for the upset win, 64-58, in the CIF Southern Section Division III-AA championship game.

Foothill won its first-ever CIF title in boys’ basketball, in its first finals appearance. The Knights denied Ocean View its second straight title and third overall in the process. And it all started on the defensive end.

“That’s just been our backbone,” Foothill Coach Rusty Van Cleave said. “We’ve got guys who are willing to defend. They’re good athletes, they’ve got a good feel for the game and they want to defend. That gave us a great chance to make it hard for the talent that Ocean View brings to the table.”

Ocean View’s season isn’t over; the Seahawks have been awarded the No. 4 seed in the Southern California Division III regionals. Ocean View opens the state tournament at 7 p.m. Tuesday, at home against La Jolla. But Saturday night might have been the worst game Ocean View played all year, at the most inopportune time.

The Seahawks (27-4) shot just 24% from the field in the first half. For the game, senior captains Anthony Brown and Avery Johnson were a combined six-of-21 from the field.

Even that Ocean View standby, the breakout dunk, was nowhere to be found. Ocean View had one dunk chance, but the Stanford-bound Brown clanked it off the rim in traffic in the second quarter.

“Even when we had breakout fast breaks, we didn’t finish,” Ocean View Coach Jim Harris said. “We missed a dunk. I mean, how often do you see [Brown] miss a running dunk? He usually puts his elbow down the basket...You’ve got to play well on a big stage, and they played well and we didn’t. I thought they controlled the game.”

The Seahawks wanted to push the tempo early, but Foothill was up to the task. Junior guard Rob Filley hit three three-pointers in the first quarter as the Knights (29-2) surged ahead, 15-2.

“They came out and they punched us in the mouth,” Brown said. “I don’t think we were expecting that. We thought that since we won it last year, we could just come here and win. We didn’t have to play.”

Ocean View cut the deficit to six by halftime, and to two early in the third quarter. But then a steal by senior guard Myles Carrillo led to a three-point play at the other end for Cooper Pickell, and the lead was safe again.

Carrillo, Foothill’s leading scorer, had another standout game with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Brown also had 16 points for Ocean View, but Johnson had just seven.

“Really, the last two games, we’ve had to have [Carrillo] sort of put us on our back at times,” Van Cleave said. “We’re pretty structured, we’re pretty disciplined, but really to beat a team like this you’ve got to have guys who can make plays. We made all the plays we needed to make.”

Down by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks cut the deficit to 60-55 on two free throws from junior guard Billy Keller with 26 seconds left. But they couldn’t get closer.

Senior center Ryan Okwudibonye had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Ocean View, and senior guard Steven Yoon scored eight, all in the second half. Senior forward Chris Martinez also provided some good energy off the bench in the second quarter, and scored four points.

Ocean View didn’t get it done Saturday night, but Brown said he still believes this team can make a run at a state title.

“We just have to keep our heads up,” Brown said. “If we put our heads down and we’re like, ‘Oh, this is a failure,’ then we’re not going to get anything done. But I know this team is capable of going through all the obstacles. We can beat everyone in our bracket. It’s just a matter of us getting our rhythm back.”