Marina edges Huntington Beach in fast-paced, wild battle

Marina started fast and then held on for a 71-70 victory over Huntington Beach in a CIF-Southern Section Division II-AA quarterfinal playoff game Tuesday at Marina.

The Vikings (23-6) advance to the II-AA semifinals, in which they will play Thousand Oaks on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Thousand Oaks is the home team, but like all semifinals the Marina-Thousand Oaks game must be played at an alternate site. The site for that game will be announced today.

Marina's last semifinals appearance was in 2004, when it advanced to the CIF-SS Division I-A championship game. The Vikings lost to Mission Viejo in that '04 final.

Garret James scored 31 points for Marina. Brendan Holmes, Orange County's second-leading scorer, scored 18 for the Vikings, eight in the fourth quarter. Zachary Kimber led Huntington Beach with 20 points, and David Swartz scored 19 with 10 rebounds.

Marina took an 11-0 lead as James scored eight, including two 3-pointers, in the first two minutes. The Vikings pushed their lead to 16-2, for what would be their biggest lead of the game, and had a 22-10 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Huntington Beach caught Marina, 61-61, when Jordan Castaneda made two free throws with 5:47 to go. A 3-pointer by Kimber with 4:22 left gave the Oilers their first lead, 66-65.

But Holmes came back with a 3-pointer to put Marina back on top, 68-66, and followed with a twisting, driving bank shot in the middle of the lane to make it 70-66. Marina's Jacob Tricarico made a free throw to push the Vikings' lead to 71-66 with 1:56 left.

Swartz scored inside to make it 71-68 with 1:11 remaining. The Vikings worked down the clock but James missed a 14-footer, Swartz got the rebound, and Huntington Beach, unable to set up a good shot, took a timeout with 10 seconds to go. The Oilers needed a 3-pointer and Nicholas Neser put one up under pressure. It missed to the right, and Swartz got the rebound and put it in for two points — not enough as time expired.

In Division I-AA:

Mater Dei 72, Rancho Verde of Moreno Valley 65: Gary Franklin's 23 points led the host Monarchs (29-0), who will play an away game against Etiwanda in the semifinals Friday.

In Division I-A:

Tesoro 75, West Valley of Hemet 61: Chris Manresa scored 21 points with 17 rebounds for the host Titans (25-4), who play an away game against Santa Monica on Friday.

In Division III-AA:

Canyon 70, Hart of Newhall 47: Braden Priest scored 16 points for the visiting Comanches (23-6), who play on the road against Nogales on Friday.

Santa Margarita 64, North Torrance 63: Jessee Hazely's basket with five seconds left provided the winner for the visiting Eagles (20-8), who play a home game at an alternate site Friday against Arroyo Grande.

In Division III-A:

Sonora 49, Apple Valley 47: A layup by Marcus Farrand and two free throws by Chris Bearden provided the key points in the final minute for the visiting Raiders (27-3), who play an away game against Harvard-Westlake of North Hollywood in the semifinals.

In Division VI-AA:

Tarbut V'Torah 66, Eastside Christian 45: Bradley Neufel's 26 points paced the visiting Lions (24-2), who play on the road against Pacifica Christian of Santa Monica in the semifinals.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com