McBean a key in victory

Jack McBean, a former Corona del Mar High standout, had two assists to help the United States under-17 boys’ national soccer team win the CONCACAF championship by defeating Canada, 3-0, in overtime Sunday in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

McBean, 16, came off the bench late to contribute to the Americans’ first U17 CONCACAF title. The U.S. had last finished first in a CONCACAF tournament 19 years ago, in the U16 division.

McBean, who left the CdM boys’ team in December to join the national team, signed a professional contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy in January.

McBean assisted on goals by Andrew Oliver and Alfred Koroma. McBean’s first assist, coming on a throw-in, was in the 100th minute. The second was in the 119th minute.

Two minutes into overtime, Nathan Smith scored the match’s first goal. He ended Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau’s 450-minute shutout streak in the tournament.

The U.S. qualified for U17 World Cup in Mexico this summer. The other three teams advancing to the tournament from CONCACAF were Canada, Panama and Jamaica.

— From staff reports

Anteaters’ Wise honored

UC Irvine junior Eric Wise has been named Big West Conference Player of the Week in men’s basketball after averaging a double-double in the Anteaters’ double-overtime wins over UC Davis and Pacific.

Wise, who missed the previous six games with a hamstring injury, had 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in Thursday’s 96-87 home win over UC Davis. Nine of his rebounds were on the offensive glass.

He registered 25 points and 12 boards in Saturday’s, 97-86 home triumph over Pacific that earned UCI a berth in the conference tournament, March 10-12 at Honda Center.

Wise, who tied his career high with three steals in each of the victories, added six assists for the week. He was 21 of 28 from the free-throw line in the two games and scored seven points in each of the second-overtime periods.

He is the first UCI player to earn the Big West weekly honor this season and it is the third time in his career he has received the award.

In his last five games, he is averaging 24.6 points and 10.6 rebounds. Wise has nine double-doubles this season and 15 in his career.

He ranks No. 14 all-time in scoring at UCI with 1,237 points and he is No. 15 in rebounds with 540.

The Anteaters (13-17, 6-9 in the Big West) end the regular season Saturday night at UC Riverside. The Anteaters can still finish as high as fifth in the Big West.

— From staff reports

DuFault singled out

UC Irvine senior Jordan DuFault has been named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week after leading the Anteaters to a pair of four-game conference victories over Hawaii.

The 6-foot-4 outside hitter hit .429 over the two home matches, Feb. 21 and 22, during which he averaged 5.8 points, 4.8 kills and 2,1 digs per set.

DuFault had a season-high 20 kills Feb. 21, then had 18 kills and a match-high 11 digs and four aces the next night.

It’s the first MPSF Player of the Week for UCI this season, but it’s the third time DuFault has been honored in his career.

No. 7-ranked UCI (10-8, 7-5 in conference) has won four straight heading into Friday’s MPSF home match with No. 3-ranked Stanford.

— From staff reports

Two locals honored

Orange Coast College freshman Will Ligon was named first-team All-Orange Empire Conference in men’s basketball.

Ligon, a 6-foot-2 guard, led the Pirates (5-22, 1-11 in conference) by averaging 13.5 points per game. His 89 three-pointers ranked third in the state regular-season statistics.

Joe Eberhard, a sophomore at Irvine Valley who played at Corona del Mar High and UC Irvine, is also a first-team honoree. Eberhard averaged 12 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 27 regular-season games for the Lasers, who completed the regular season 21-7.

IVC, which opened the Southern California Regional playoffs Friday, was 8-4 in conference, good for third place.

— From staff reports

Four locals lauded

Four local high school seniors are among 12 candidates for the 2011 Toshiba Classic Scholarship Fund, which will award two $10,000 scholarships at the annual golf tournament’s breakfast on March 8 at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort.

Nominees Lyssa Aruda from Corona del Mar High, Daria Farris from Costa Mesa High, Charlie Umansky from Estancia and Jocelyn Gutierrez from Newport Harbor have already won a Toshiba laptop as part of the scholarship fund’s annual effort to recognize several of Orange County’s most accomplished and ambitious high school students.

It’s the 12th year of the scholarship program, funded by proceeds from the Champions Tour event, which runs March 7 through 13 at Newport Beach Country Club.

— From staff reports