ARGO COACH ANDREW SCIMECA talks to his players during a time-out (Tribune photo).

By Miles Gaskin/Orange County Tribune

The Garden Grove Argonauts defeated the Ocean View Seahawks 57-47, to secure a CIF-SS playoff spot on Friday night.  The Argonauts were in control for most of the game, and despite a fourth quarter push from Ocean View, Grove was able to pull away in crunch time.

With the win Garden Grove improves to 15-12 and 4-3 in league.  Ocean View will drop to 6-20 and 2-5 in league.

Junior forward Ethan Juarez led the way for the Argonauts with 18 points.  Garden Grove also received key contributions from junior big man Nieman Quach who finished with 11 points, four assists and two steals. Sophomore wing Diego Serrano knocked down three three-pointers and grabbed seven rebounds.

Quach went on a 6-0 run by himself late in the fourth quarter just as Ocean View had cut Grove’s lead to three at 41-38.  This run seemingly secured the win for the Argonauts.

Ocean View had big contributions from senior forward Zeke Case, who netted a double-double finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and junior guard Calvin Flanagan who also finished with 14 points.

Garden Grove Coach Andrew Scimeca was satisfied with his team’s overall performance.

“We have come a long way from having two wins a year ago, to where we are today.  The last couple weeks the guys have been doing a really good job of executing game plans, and they did the same thing tonight in closing this one out.”

Scimeca also explained that Quach’s play is the engine that makes Garden Grove go.

“He (Quach) establishes our offense, we want to get the ball inside.  When he gets going it forces the defense to collapse and it opens things up for all of our other players whether it’s open shots, or cuts to the basket.”