ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Sunset League : Georgeson Finishes Strong for Marina

Mark Georgeson made his 6-foot 10-inch presence felt on both ends of the court in the final 2:12 Wednesday night, leading Marina High School to a 56-51 victory over Ocean View in front of a capacity crowd at Marina.

The victory was the second straight for Marina (15-2) in Sunset League play; defending champion Ocean View (10-4) lost its third straight. More importantly, the Seahawks have lost two league games in the six-team league and will now need plenty of assistance if they hope to repeat as champions.

“We’ve dug ourselves into a big hole,” said Ocean View Coach Jim Harris. “You might say we’re in the Grand Canyon. We’re going to need help now.”

The Seahawks, who haven’t won a game since returning from a holiday trip to Hawaii two weeks ago, appeared to be in control after forward Desi Hazely completed a three-point play to push Ocean View ahead, 41-37.

But Georgeson, who will attend the University of Arizona in the fall, scored 10 of his 18 points in the last quarter. Georgeson also blocked six shots and grabbed seven rebounds despite sitting out three minutes in the second half with four fouls.

Georgeson picked up his fourth foul with 2:18 remaining in the third quarter and the Vikings trailing, 36-35. He returned with 6:57 remaining and the Vikings trailing, 43-41.

“When Mark got into foul trouble, we got out of sync,” said Marina Coach Steve Popovich. “We came back with the game on the line. The kids pulled together.”

Viking forward Steve Guild supplied most of the offense in the first half, scoring 19 of his team’s 30 points. He finished with a game-high 26 points.

Marina struggled to make only one shot in the third quarter but got hot in the fourth period, making seven of nine shots. Ocean View held a 51-50 lead following a dunk by center Ricky Butler with 2:50 remaining, but it was the last points the Seahawks made.

“I thought the biggest factor in the game was that Marina shot 31 free throws and we shot only 10,” Harris said. “The game was an improvement for us, but nothing went our way in the end.”

Fountain Valley 44, Huntington Beach 43--Fountain Valley (2-0, 8-6) was led by Andrew Tulumello with 20 points. Tulumello made the a short jump shot with 30 seconds left to put Fountain Valley ahead for good. Westminster 61, Edison 53--Junior center Chris Tower scored 22 points and Tom Dever added 16 points as the Lions moved into a first-place tie with Marina and Fountain Valley with 2-0 records.