HUNTINGTON BEACH – There were a couple of moments in the first half where the score seemingly became a little too close for those associated with the Edison boys basketball team.
Each time, the second-seeded Chargers responsed by taking control of the CIF-SS Division 2AA first-round playoff game against visiting Segerstrom, leading to a 72-49 victory Wednesday night.
The Chargers (21-7), who played in the 1A final last year, will be on the road for the second round against Arroyo Grande on Friday.
“I thought the effort was consistent,” Edison coach Rich Boyce said. “I don’t think our play was always consistent. We were up and down. We make a nice run, then we stop playing D and they get back into it.”
The third quarter presented the Chargers a chance to put the game away, and that’s exactly what they did.
After grabbing a 33-21 lead at halftime, the Chargers opened the third quarter by outscoring the Jaguars, 10-2, to stretch their lead to 43-23.
Edison’s lead reached a high of 25 points in the quarter.
“Give them credit,” Boyce said of Segerstrom (15-11), the third-place team out of the Golden West League. “They didn’t give in and say it’s over. They kept playing hard and that’s always keeps you in games.”
Isaiah Bolden-Robinson led the Jaguars with 13 points.
David Atencio and Randall Walker helped lead the third-quarter push for the Chargers. Atencio scored 10 of his 18 points in the quarter. Walker had nine of his game-high 23.
“We talked about coming out firing and being intense,” Atencio said of the Chargers’ talk at halftime. “We had to play defense, push the ball, get rebounds and pretty much play team basketball.”
Nate Matthews added 10 points for the Chargers.
The Chargers led, 58-38, entering the fourth quarter.
“I’ve told these kids, we’ve played so many games, whether in the summer or the season, where it’s an eight-point game and I look up and all of a sudden we make a couple of runs and It’s a 20- point game,” Boyce said. “We’re capable of doing that, but we just not quite capable of sustaining it all of the time, but we’re getting closer.”
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
