HUNTINGTON BEACH – Corona del Mar suffered a second-round knockout last season in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.
Ryan Stone remembered and made sure it didn’t happen again Friday night.
The 6-foot-2 senior made a series of big plays in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s second-round game at Ocean View High, and the Sea Kings survived an earnest upset bid by the Seahawks, 65-58.
Stone scored 13 points, 12 in the second half, Bo St. Geme scored 15 and junior Matt Ctvrtlik had 17 off the bench to move CdM into the Division 3A quarterfinals. The Sea Kings will be at La Canada on Tuesday night.
“It was in the back of my mind all week,” Stone said. “I wasn’t ready for our season to end early again.”
Trailing 50-49, Stone’s drive through the lane turned into a 3-point play. He followed that with a baseline 3-pointer, then blocked a shot by Ocean View’s Zamir Kelly, picked up a foul going the other way and converted both free throws.
The Sea Kings (22-6) took a 59-54 lead after that sequence with 1:25 to play and Ocean View (17-11) never got closer than four points. Christian Anderson scored 20 and Kelly 14 for Ocean View.
“Ryan and Bo were unbelievable,” CdM coach Ryan Schacter said. “Ryan gave us so much energy both scoring and guarding Zamir. Bo was huge, too, even when his shots weren’t going down.”
Ocean View wasn’t a soft second-round opponent. The Sea Hawks came in having won 13 of their last 15 games and much improved after the return of Zarek Osborne, who missed a month with a shoulder injury, the arrival of Tustin transfer Anderson and maturing freshmen starters Paul Head and Bryson Betti.
“We watched film of them and knew they were vastly improved,” Schacter said. “They play hard and did a good job creating opportunities.”
CdM led 8-5 early before Ocean View turned turnovers into an 11-3 run and a five-point first quarter lead. Ctvrtlik scored 10 points off the bench in the second quarter to give the Sea Kings a three-point halftime lead.
The game was tight thereafter. Head hit a floating 3-pointer that kissed the rim three times before falling through to put Ocean View on top, 48-45, before baskets by St. Geme and Ctvrtlik and Stone’s run turned the game CdM’s way.
Contact the writer: bkeisser@lbregister.com