HUNTINGTON BEACH – It can be difficult for the host team of a tournament to get motivated to play in that tournament’s third-place game.
Corona del Mar lost big to Mater Dei on Friday in the semifinals of its Beach Bash tournament. The Sea Kings bounced back with a solid effort to beat Edison, 59-54, Saturday in the Beach Bash third-place game.
Mater Dei played Tustin in the tournament final late Saturday night.
Matt Ctrvtlik scored a team-high 14 points for the Sea Kings (3-1). He scored eight in Corona del Mar’s 22-point fourth quarter.
The Sea Kings’ Bo St. Geme made 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 points. Sam Kobrine also scored 11 for Corona del Mar.
Brae Ivey led Edison (4-1) with 14 points.
Ctrvtlik said it was not that difficult to get charged up to play Edison.
“Our coaches always do a really good job of getting us pumped up,” said Ctrvtlik, a 6-foot-4 junior forward. “Despite losing to Mater Dei, we still got pumped to play Edison because that’s one of the top teams in the county so we knew it was going to be a fun game to play.”
Edison took a 40-36 lead into the fourth quarter. Ctrvtlik made two 3-pointers to start the final quarter and give the Sea Kings a 42-40 lead, their first since the early first quarter.
The Chargers managed to regain the lead and had a 48-44 advantage midway through the fourth quarter. Kobrine and Tae Le hit clutch baskets down the stretch and St. Geme made his free throws as the Sea Kings took back the lead and got the win.
Corona del Mar played without starting forward Kevin Fults, who suffered a knee strain in the Mater Dei game in which he scored 11 points.
Ryan Klienman started in Fults’ place and scored eight points.
Edison next week plays in the North County Championships, a 20-team tournament for which Sonora is host. The Chargers play Brea Olinda in a pool-play game Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Brea.
Corona del Mar plays in the Charlie Wilkins Memorial Tournament next week at Westminster High. The Sea Kings play Hawthorne in a first-round game there Monday at 6 p.m.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
