Ocean View dominates

Avery Johnson got the steal near midcourt, took off and slammed the ball at the buzzer.

It was an exclamation point — and the buzzer only signified the end of the third quarter.

But Johnson and his Ocean View High teammates had already shown they wouldn’t be denied. They made a powerful statement in winning the Seahawks’ first CIF boys’ basketball title since 1998, and second overall.

Ocean View cruised by an overmatched Inglewood squad, 76-47, Saturday in the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA title game at Mater Dei High.

A team with just one senior in its rotation dominated nearly every aspect of the game, and won a plaque because of it. Now the Seahawks are on another run — to win what they hope is the program’s first state title.

Ocean View topped Cathedral Catholic of San Diego, 67-50, in the first round of the CIF State Division III Southern California regional Tuesday at home.

The No. 2-seeded Seahawks will play Canyon of Anaheim at 7 tonight at home in the regional semifinals. A win tonight and Ocean View will face either top-seeded Harvard-Westlake or Gahr at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Saturday at noon in the SoCal Division III title game.

The winner of that game advances to the Division III state championship game next weekend in Sacramento.

Ocean View co-Coach Jim Harris, whose 31st season will continue at least a while longer, said one of the keys against Inglewood was attitude.

“Go out there and go at it right now, and don’t wait to see anything,” Harris said he told his players. “And they did.

“They played really well together, and made great decisions. The biggest key, of many, was that Avery Johnson and Anthony Brown were who they should be. They were pretty complete players, I’ll tell you that. They rebounded, they scored and they defended. The biggest thing was the rebounding ... somehow we play up [in size].”

Brown had 21 points, 10 rebounds and three steals for the Seahawks (25-7). Johnson had 20 points and five blocks, many of those of the sensational variety.

Senior Mason Jones added 18 points and four assists.

The trio set the tone in the opening quarter, when they made four three-pointers and combined for all 24 of Ocean View’s points. At one point, the No. 3-seeded Seahawks led, 18-4, which was similar to a 17-2 start in their semifinal win over Serra.

A difference this time? The foot stayed on the gas, and the hands stayed in the faces of Inglewood shooters.

The Sentinels, who had scored 97 points in an overtime win over top-seeded Bishop Montgomery in the semifinals, scored less than half that Saturday. They also shot just 31% from the field, compared to 47% for Ocean View.

“Our defense speaks for itself,” Jones said. “Coach Harris kept saying, ‘Rebound it, rebound it, rebound it,’ and we did. We rebounded a lot today.”

Now the focus is on the state playoffs for the Seahawks, who want to cap their already memorable season in perfect fashion.

“This school’s never won a state championship before,” Johnson said. “That would be icing on the cake, to win a state championship and make history.”

They’re three games away after topping Cathedral Catholic on Tuesday.

Ocean View was up 53-30 after a dunk by Johnson midway through the third quarter. But Cathedral went on a big run, pulling with 11 points three different times in the fourth quarter.

But the Dons could never get closer.

“We never talked about state,” Harris said. “This is a young team ... We were still giddy and walking on cloud nine from our CIF championship. I think the emotion of that and what it took to do all that, we just kind of ran out of gas. We shot well, but [Cathedral] causes a lot of problems. They change defenses every time down the court, and they get you a little hesitant. We looked really tired out there.”

Jones had 13 points to lead a balanced Seahawks attack. Billy Keller had 12 and Johnson and Ryan Okwudibonye had 10 each.

Jones also had seven steals in the game, which again started with the Seahawks red-hot from the outside. Ocean View made eight three-pointers in the first half.

“We’re really solid all-around,” Keller said. “If we need someone to do something else, then they’ll pick it up and do it. Whenever we need someone to pick it up, they really come and do well.”

Ocean View has won 17 of its last 18 games, with the lone loss against King of Riverside, which beat Mater Dei in the Division I-AA title game on Saturday night.

“We lost that game, but it kind of catapulted us to this run,” Harris said.

The Seahawks have matched the furthest they’ve ever advanced in Harris’ tenure. In 1998, they advanced to the regional semifinals before losing to Washington Union of Fresno, which featured current NBA player DeShawn Stevenson.

“We’re happy to be moving on,” Harris said. “[Canyon] is improved. They play great team ball; they play well together. We’ll see what we can do.”

CIF State Division III Southern California Regional

 Canyon at Ocean View, regional semifinal, 7 tonight at Ocean View High

* Winner advances to regional final Saturday at UCLA.