ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Roundup : Ocean View Defeats Edison, 78-70

In a must-win situation, Ocean View High School showed why it will be a playoff contender as the Seahawks came from behind to defeat Edison, 78-70, Wednesday night at Ocean View.

The Seahawks, who avenged an earlier loss to Edison, clinched a playoff berth as they improved to 6-3, 16-6 with one home game remaining against Westminster.

Ocean View Coach Jim Harris, whose team began league play at 1-3, was happy to get the victory. “It has been a long way back for this team,” he said. “The school expects a lot from us, and we are not going to let them down.”

Both teams traded leads in the first half, with the Chargers gaining a two-point advantage (35-33) when forward Scott DeStefano, who scored a team-high 21 points, drove the baseline and scored on a layup with 15 seconds left in the half.

Ocean View took the lead for good when forward Doug Rice connected on a three-point shot from the right corner to give the Seahawks a 65-63 lead with less than three minutes to play.

Ocean View forward Desi Hazely scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth period.