Boys basketball: Sailors open with win

Tony Altobelli

HUNTINGTON BEACH - There were moments of brilliance and moments of

head-scratching frustration for the Newport Harbor High boys basketball

team in Tuesday’s season-opening 73-52 nonleague win over host Huntington

Beach.

“It all depends on which quarter we’re talking about,” Newport Coach

Larry Hirst said. “On offense and defense we had some very positive

spurts and then we had times were we struggled.”

A good example of this up-and-down exhibition came from junior Tony

Melum. After struggling in the first half, the 6-foot-6 center came

alive, scoring 18 of his 22 points and grabbing seven of his 10 rebounds

in the final two quarters.

“We made some adjustments at halftime and we tried to work on our

inside game,” Hirst said. “He’s a very talented young man when he puts

his mind to it.”

Senior guard Aaron Yarnal chipped in with 17 points, while junior Greg

Perrine added 13 points.

Newport’s defense was strong early and forced Huntington Beach into

five turnovers on its first six possessions, while in the process,

jumping out to a 9-3 advantage.

Huntington Beach used a spell of hot shooting to stay in the game,

hitting 5 of 6 from the field and trailed only by three after one

quarter.

Newport never trailed in the contest as its defense continued to

suffocate the Oilers.

Perrine had three steals in the first minute of the second quarter and

helped Newport grab a more comfortable advantage. Yarnal scored six of

the Sailors’ 13 points, while the Oilers were held to four, extending the

lead to 29-17.

The Sailors took advantage of Melum’s size advantage as he scored 11

of Newport’s 21 third-quarter points.

“Some of our guys might have had some first-game-of-the-season jitters

early, but we started to play better offensively in the second half,”

Hirst said.

Huntington Beach tried to keep it close behind the play of Drew

Janovick’s 15 points, but the Sailors’ lead never dropped below 12 in the

second half. Newport went on a 6-0 run to end the third quarter and gave

the Sailors a 50-31 advantage.

The fourth quarter became a free-throw fest for the Oilers, as

Newport’s defense softened up. Huntington Beach scored 13 of its 21

points from the charity stripe.

“We let down defensively down the stretch,” Hirst said. “But it’s the

first game of the year, there’s not enough room in your paper to list all

the things we can improve on.”

A bright spot for Hirst’s squad was that six different players or 60%

of the entire team scored points in the fourth quarter, including senior

Jordan Spigner (seven points) and freshman Jamie Diefenbach (six points).

“It’s good to know that any of our guys can go into a situation and be

productive,” Hirst said. “With only 10 guys, everyone has to be ready at

all times.”

NONLEAGUE

Newport Harbor 73, Huntington Beach 52

Newport Harbor 16 13 21 23 - 73 Huntington Beach 13 4 14 21 - 52

Newport - Melum 22, Yarnal 17, Perrine 13, Spigner 7, Diefenbach 6,

Peterson 4, Young 3, Hill 1, Cameron 0, Pajevic 0.

3 pt. goals - Perrine 2, Spigner 1, Yarnal 1.

Fouled out - None.

Huntington Beach - Janovick 15, DeHart 9, Sullivan 6, Harrison 6,

Bailey 5, VanVoorhis 4, Kramer 2, Nitolama 2, Kokubin 2, Jaso 1.

3 pt. goals - Janovick 3.

Fouled out - None.