Boys Basketball: Sailors Outgunned

Steve Virgen

ANAHEIM - The lowest point of the season for the Newport Harbor

High boys basketball team arrived Saturday night. The score, a 73-50 loss

to Capistrano Valley, was of little significance to the reality of the

result.

The loss wasn’t a matter of being outmatched. It was more of being

outplayed and outhustled that led to the Tars’ worst loss of the season.

Harbor (8-3) fell to fourth place in the Anaheim Convention Center

Holiday Classic as Capistrano Valley (5-1) broke away from a 6-6 tie,

after the opening two minutes, and outscored the Sailors 21-5 over the

next eight minutes.

“(Capo Valley) played at a different level than us,” Harbor Coach

Larry Hirst said. “Their intensity level is just phenomenal. Coach

(Brian) Mulligan does a great job of getting them to play that hard.

That’s what we’re going to work on after Christmas, when we finally

practice, trying to play that hard all the time.”

The Cougars carried a 38-18 lead into halftime as Harbor committed 10

turnovers, six in the first quarter.

Sailors junior Tony Melum led the Tars with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Aaron Yarnal, who was selected for the all-tournament team, also

scored in double figures with 10.

But, it was the hot shooting and transition game of the Cougars that

blew out the Tars.

Capo’s Matt Sweaney finished with a game-high 17 points on mostly

pull-up jumpshots, while Jake Franzen scored 16 as he drove to the

basket, converting on reverse layups.

“Not to take anything from Capo Valley,” said Hirst. “But, most of our

mistakes, in the first half that were leading to their points, were

self-induced.”

Hirst also said the Sailors have not been able to practice as much as

he would like. Harbor will be able to practice but one day this week,

today.

Tuesday, the Tars face Edison and then they’re off to Seattle for the

Shorewood Tournament, Thursday through Saturday.

When the tournament is over, Harbor would have only practiced two days

in the last three and a half weeks because of tournament play, Hirst

said.

Still, he is content the Sailors are taking advantage of the game

experience. In the final quarter, with Harbor trailing, 61-33, Hirst

turned to his substitute players and gave them playing time.

“It turned out well in the last six minutes,” he said. “We can play

our subs. You hate to lose, but at least we got to experiment with some

things.”

“We weren’t really strong with the ball,” said Harbor point guard Greg

Perrine, who scored six points. “I think our confidence was a little low

after the El Toro loss (Friday). Our (communication) wasn’t too good in

this game. We had a lot of stupid turnovers. They were intense.”

ANAHEIM CONVENTION CENTER HOLIDAY CLASSIC

Third PlaceCapistrano Valley 73, Newport Harbor 50

Capistrano Valley 20 18 23 12 -- 73Newport Harbor 11 7 15

17 -- 50Capistrano Valley - Sweany 17, Franzen 16, Gloger 12, Decasas 8,

Demere 7, Mallon 6, Williams 3, Goswiller 2, Klein 2.

3-pt. goals - Demere 1, Williams 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Newport Harbor - Melum 18, Yarnal 10, Perrine 6, Young 5, Cameron 2,

Hill 2, Pajedic 2, Peterson 2, Spigner 2, Diefenbach 1.

3-pt. goals - Young 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - Newport Harbor bench.