League-leading Ocean View boys basketball team survives road test against Segerstrom winning 67-64 in overtime

Ocean View’s Carson Nguyen (No. 11) is congratulated by his teammates after Wednesday’s Golden West League game.

Ocean View’s boys basketball team was pushed to the limit by a determined Segerstrom team but the Seahawks survived, winning 67-64 in overtime Wednesday night at Segerstrom to remain undefeated atop the Golden West League.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

Carson Nguyen scored 22 points and seven in overtime to lead Ocean View (17-8, 7-0). Devon Vu added 15 points and Vincent Caizzao added 11 points for the Seahawks.

Segerstrom (6-18, 2-5) was led by Charles Erving with 22 points and Kevin Ngo with 17 points.

“When I looked at the schedule, I marked this one on the calendar because I’ve played here, I’ve coached here for many years,” said first-year Seahawks Coach Jimmy Harris. “I know how hard it is to get a win here. I know how well they prepare and I knew how hard they were going to come out and play because we got them at our place.

“The part of the game that was actually shocking was the part that we started to distance ourselves offensively and I think our defense turning into offense is what led to that which we weren’t able to do in the third quarter. We stalled out offensively in the third quarter. They did a great job of getting to the basket.”

In the end, the Seahawks made the plays to stay undefeated in league.

“But on our side, we kind of took the punches and regrouped and we had great impact off the bench which is what you need to come up with a good win at somebody else’s place,” Harris said. “Guys like Jordan Kim and Daniel Bartle and Chico Lopez, guys came in and stepped up. Anthony Basaldua stepped up as well. They found a way.”

Ocean View looked to be in solid shape with a 34-19 halftime lead. But Segerstrom outscored the Seahawks 20-8 to cut the lead to 42-39 going into the final stanza.

Alex Chavez had four consecutive points late in the game to put Segerstrom ahead 57-55. But Caizao sank two free throws with 19.2 seconds left to tie the game.

Both teams had chances at the end of regulation, but turned the ball over.

In the overtime, Kevin Ngo hit a 3-pointer to give Segerstrom an early lead but Nguyen helped Ocean View finish strong.

It was Segerstrom’s second overtime league loss of the season.

“Physically we didn’t lose this game,” said Segerstrom Coach Brandon Rogers. “We challenged them at halftime to come out and play like they did in the second half and they did. But unfortunately once again, mentally when we’re in close games, we make mistakes and that costs us, we just can’t get over the hump. That’s our second overtime loss in league and we had one other game where we were leading going into the fourth quarter.

“Hopefully we can turn it around the next couple of games.”

The Jaguars honored their 10 seniors before the game.

FIRST-YEAR COACH JIMMY HARRIS FEELS RIGHT AT HOME

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com