Chalmers, Barela key Newport Harbor victory in Century Elks Holiday Classic

Reporting from Santa Ana —  As long as the subject of overtime doesn’t come up, Newport Harbor High boys’ basketball coach Robert Torribio has been in a pretty good mood.

The Sailors suffered their third overtime loss of the season against Westminster in the semifinals of the Century Elks Holiday Classic on Friday night.

And as Torribio noted, his team has done a fine job of bouncing back after such games.

Junior forward Dayne Chalmers had a game-high 18 points with eight rebounds, and Newport Harbor defeated Pacifica 61-45 in the third-place game of the tournament on Saturday night at Century High.

Junior point guard Sam Barela, who is also the quarterback of the Newport Harbor football team, had 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.

“Those two guys, as juniors, have taken on quite a leadership role for a team with three seniors,” Torribio said of Chalmers and Barela.

Newport Harbor improved to 11-4 overall. The Sailors are 1-3 in overtime contests, with the team’s one win coming in a double-overtime edition of the Battle of the Bay against Corona del Mar.

“[We have had] a couple of tough overtime losses, but we’ve always come back not regretting what happened the night before,” Torribio said. “We’ve always responded very well.”

Barela looked at Friday night’s loss to Westminster as a wasted opportunity to reach a tournament final, but he exuded confidence in the team’s ability to be competitive every night.

“We know how good we are,” Barela said. “We know how much talent we have. Last night, it was wasted, as a lot of people could see. We know our strengths and what we’re good at.”

“We can do it every night if we want to, but we didn’t do it last night. We did it tonight.”

Chalmers, a talented outside hitter for the Sailors’ boys’ volleyball team, was in attack mode. He converted baskets on three dunk attempts, two of which were on the receiving end of alley-oop passes from Barela.

“It’s going to take some rest, and maybe a better pass,” Chalmers joked when asked what it would take to finish the dunks more cleanly.

The junior forward added two blocks.

Senior wing Brad Siegel scored 12 points with five rebounds and four steals. Will Harvey, Zack Swies, and Robbie Spooner each had four points for the Sailors.

Junior point guard Andrew Brown and senior center Josh Handley paced the Mariners (10-5) with 12 points apiece.

Newport Harbor has a road game against Segerstrom on Tuesday before it opens Sunset League play at home versus Huntington Beach on Friday. With league right around the corner, the Sailors are staying grounded.

“Take it one game at a time,” Chalmers said of the team’s goals. “The next game is the most important game.”

“We have a lot of room to grow from where we are. We’re pretty good right now. We can be even better.”

*

Newport Harbor 61, Pacifica 45

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Newport Harbor 12 – 18 – 20 – 11 — 61

Pacifica 4 – 13 – 17 – 11 — 45

NH – Chalmers 18, Barela 17, Siegel 12, Harvey 4, Swies 4, Spooner 4, Bashore 2.

3-pt. goals – Barela 2, Siegel 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

P – Brown 12, Handley 12, Fabisiak 8, Whitford 3, Sprenger 2, Aldridge 2.

3-pt. goals – Fabisiak 2, Brown 1, Whitford 1, Handley 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

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