Ocean View knocked out of playoffs

It wasn’t exactly the way Jimmy Harris had hoped Ocean View would go out.

When Ocean View finished playing Knight of Palmdale Friday in the quarterfinal round of the CIF-Southern Section Division II-A boys’ basketball playoffs, Harris, the co-head coach of the Seahawks along with his father, Jim, didn’t feel his squad brought its A game.

The end result was a season-ending 61-52 loss to the Hawks. The teams were tied at 26 at the half, but sixth-seed Knight, led by 6-foot-8 Paul George and Kyree Jackson, both senior wings, outscored No. 3-seed Ocean View by 10 in the second half.

“I’d much rather we played our best in defeat,” Harris said. “It was a little disappointing that we didn’t give them our best shot. Knight is a good team, and we needed to be at our best if we had hoped to advance.”

Three Seahawks were in double figures: Takeshi Clifford scored 13, Brandon Ishimoto 11 and Avery Johnson 10.

Eight seniors, including Clifford and Johnson, played their final game for Ocean View which ended the year 23-7.

The Seahawks have won 10 of the last 11 Golden West League titles and over the past 10 years, have an average yearly record of 23-7, Harris said.

“With a lot of seniors and a lot of sophomores on this team, developing chemistry was the biggest obstacle facing these kids at the beginning of the year,” Harris said. “Their ability to work together and believe in each other, to the end, despite their age differences, was their biggest achievement.

“It’s tough to say goodbye to these seniors. Their leadership and contributions added to the Ocean View tradition and now it’s up to the underclassmen to carry on that tradition.”

In girls’ basketball

Usually, teams don’t shoot well from the three-point range against Huntington Beach’s match-up zone.

On Feb. 20, Mira Costa was the exception. The No. 3-seeded Mustangs used nine three-point baskets between Amanda Johnson and Megan Richardson, who combined for 33 points, to score a 53-43 second-round victory over the Oilers in a second-round Division I-A game at Huntington.

Mira Costa, the No. 2 team from the Bay League, won its quarterfinal round game Saturday to reach Tuesday’s semifinal round.

Senior Jasmine Erving, in her final game for the Oilers, led Huntington with 17 points.

“Mira Costa’s a very good team, and I haven’t seen a team shoot like that against our match-up zone all year,” Huntington Coach Russell McClurg said. “We had a technical called on our bench in the first half and we were up at the time, and that kind of changed the momentum.”

Huntington Beach, the No. 2 team from the Sea View League, finished the year 20-9.

“I’m really proud of the girls and the season that they had,” McClurg said. “We didn’t have a lot of depth and we played such a tough schedule, but the girls did a great job. We have some good kids coming back next year, but there’s room for other kids to come up the pipeline.”

Sunset League champion Edison also had its season come to an end Feb. 20 in a 49-43 second-round loss at Beverly Hills in Division II-AA play.

The Chargers were the No. 2 seed in the division. They finished the year 21-4.

Beverly Hills was playing its third postseason game against the Chargers. The Normans, an at-large entry to the playoffs, had to win a wild-card game just to reach the first round. They defeated Fillmore before upsetting Edison.