NEWPORT BEACH – Mission Bay High boys’ basketball coach Marshawn Cherry and his team made the 76-mile jaunt up the 5 Freeway Tuesday afternoon for its State Southern Regional Division II game at Corona del Mar High.
And the Buccaneers played just well enough to earn a near-double-the-distance drive Thursday for their second-round game.
Senior forward Charlie Hutchison scored half of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter and the visitors overcome some final-minute chaos to prevail, 57-55.
The win means another long bus ride for Cherry and his players – 140 miles or so, via the 5 and 405, to Northridge where they will take on top seed Heritage Christian Thursday night.
The Buccaneers (22-11), the San Diego Section’s Division I champions, got off to a sluggish start Tuesday night while trailing by as many as nine points late in the first quarter.
But, in large part because of seven second-quarter turnovers by the Sea Kings (25-8), the visitors were up by two points at intermission.
The lead was padded to double figures when they scored the first eight points of the third quarter, six of those via a couple of deep jumpers by senior guard Gavin Girouard.
But 6-foot-1 Maxwell Scott – one of Southern California’s top freshmen jump shooters – heated up over the final six minutes of the quarter, scoring nine points as the Sea Kings got to within two points heading into the fourth quarter.
And that was the cue for the 6-7 Hutchison (pictured) to respond in kind, opening the quarter with a deep 3 and scoring three more buckets (without a miss), the last of those a driving banker from the right side to put his team up, 57-52, with 46 seconds to go.
But it was precarious final 46 tics, indeed, before the visitors could get back on the road to San Diego with a victory.
Senior guard Ganon Overfelt – 0 for four from the field at the time – was fouled by Caleb Newton while attempting a 3 with :24.5 to go and swished each of the free throws to get the hosts to within 57-55.
The teams then exchanged turnovers, the second of which – by Corona del Mar – led to what appeared to be a win-securing layup which came up short by Isaiah Whitehurst with about 14 seconds remaining.
After clearing the rebound, the Sea Kings had a chance to send the game into overtime – or win it with a 3.
But they never got into synch on the possession while Scott – the kid most apt to win it with one clean jumper – was being shadowed, and 6-3 senior Nick Salmon passed up a mid-range jumper from the left side before driving into traffic and missing a well-contested shot at the buzzer.
Salmon closed his prep career with 15 points and nine rebounds while 6-6 junior Jackson Harlan – a national age-group, water polo standout – grabbed 13 rebounds for the Sea Kings.
The 6-3 Newton (who played at L.A. City school Birmingham as a freshman last season) scored 10 points but missed 12 of 16 shots from the floor.
In other Regional action across Southern California Tuesday night:
*CIF SS D-2AA runner-up Rolling Hills Prep pulled off the most significant upper-division upset by edging host JSerra, 41-39.
The host Lions were one of eight CIF SS Open teams and beat Trinity League foe Mater Dei in two of three meetings (including the playoffs).
The 27-6 Huskies’ prize for going deep into Orange County and pulling off that stunner?
They’re on their way to Sherman Oaks Thursday, where they will visit CIF SS D-1 champion Notre Dame, which improved to 30-3 Tuesday by pummeling Torrey Pines, 89-47, as Mercy “Mercy Me” Miller went for an almost too-easy 40 points.
Five other D-1 wins, by an average margin of 18 points, set the table for the other three quarterfinals Thursday night.
Top seed St. John Bosco (24-6), which drew a bye Tuesday night, will play host to Windward (29-4), the CIF SS D-1 runner-up.
Redondo (25-5) and Damien (27-5), which went into San Diego County for first-round victories, will play at La Verne in a meeting of teams that lost in the CIF SS D-1 semifinals.
And Corona Centennial (21-13) and Mater Dei (27-5), each blanked in three CIF SS Open pool games, hook up in Santa Ana in the House That Gary (McKnight) Built, aka, the Meruelo Center.
*The most compelling of the Thursday night D-II second-round games has L.A. City Open champion King/Drew (20-11) visiting CIF SS D-3AA winner La Habra (30-4).
Both went on the road Tuesday night and scored “mild” upsets, vs. Marina and Cathedral Catholic, respectively.
*In D-III, Alemany and Bosco are a round closer to a March 5 rematch of their triple-overtime, CIF SS 3-A finale that Alemany won, 86-80, at Colony High Saturday night.
Each knocked off San Diego County teams Tuesday, Bosco Tech beating Rancho Buena Vista, 87-83, and Alemany toppling Olympian, 57-46.
Bosco Tech is at home to Woodbridge Thursday night while Alemany plays host to another San Diego County team, Scripps Ranch.
That bracket took a whacking Tuesday night when top seed Dinuba (from the Central Section) was clipped by No. 16 seed L.A. Price, 60-50.
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