Boys’ Basketball: Sailors win big again
ANAHEIM — The second trip in as many days to the Godinez boys’ basketball tournament lasted much longer than the first for Newport Harbor High.
Getting to Loara High from Newport Harbor took the Sailors 1 hour 45 minutes on Tuesday.
“[Highway] 55 was slow, so we looked at our technology and thought that the side streets would be a great idea,” said Newport Harbor Coach Bob Torribio, hoping the 21.8-mile bus ride would take 25 minutes to make, just like it did on Monday. “Apparently, we were wrong.
“I told the guys that there [are] two schools of thought, you sit in the gym for two hours or you get off the bus and put your stuff on [right away] and play.”
The Sailors made it in time for the opening tip against Laguna Beach. When they stepped on the court, the Sailors played at the pace of the traffic they were stuck in en route to Anaheim.
It took Newport Harbor 2½ minutes to take its first shot. Once they got their legs underneath them, the Sailors cruised to a 74-51 win.
Newport Harbor has won its first two pool-play games, and advances to the quarterfinals of the gold bracket on Thursday.
Zach Blaine led the Sailors (2-0) with 15 points off the bench, and Nate Harding finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. Brandon Phillips and Charlie Stassel contributed 13 points apiece.
After falling behind, 5-0, Newport Harbor, made its final five shots in the first quarter to take a 14-13 lead. Blaine and Zack Sweis each knocked down a three-pointer, while Phillips easily made two wide-open layups. Colin Pipkin and Harding dished out the assists on Phillips’ baskets.
Phillips, a 6-foot-4 senior, also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots. He has been impressive during the first two days of the tournament, averaging 14 points per game.
“He’s been around,” Harding said of Phillips, who was ineligible last season, “but you guys just haven’t seen him.”
Phillips’ size and athleticism bodes well this season for Newport Harbor’s chances to win every time out. The Sailors, who are coming off a third-place finish in the Sunset League, squared off against the Orange Coast League’s perennial champion.
The Breakers, led by Blake Burzell’s 23 points, were unable to slow down Newport Harbor’s momentum from late in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Harding drained consecutive threes in a 27-second span. The senior wound up with 12 second-quarter points.
Pipkin, who had four steals in the first half, and Phillips, who had seven points in the first half, helped Newport Harbor take a 31-25 lead into the break. Newport Harbor shot 55% through the first two quarters, a much better rate than the Breakers’ 38%.
More than half of Laguna Beach’s shots in the first half came from behind the arc, where it made only three of 11. The Sailors hit one more, only taking eight threes to do so.
The threes kept falling for Newport Harbor in the second half, hitting six of 10.
The Sailors began to pull away by opening the third quarter on an 18-9 run. Pipkin and Blaine each nailed a three during the spurt, and Blaine attacked the basket, swishing two floaters and converting a layup. Blaine recorded nine points in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter featured Stassel hitting two threes early on and Blaine and Sweis made one as well. Newport Harbor outscored the Breakers, 20-5, in the first 6½ of the fourth, taking a 72-42 lead, its largest of the game.
By then, Torribio took out his starters. They sat and watched the Sailors blow out a team for the second straight day at the tournament.
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Godinez Tournament
Pool play
Newport Harbor 74, Laguna Beach 51
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Laguna 13 – 12 – 12 – 14 — 51
Newport 14 – 17 – 21 – 22— 74
LB – Burzell 23, Rounaghi 13, Wulff 9, McMurray 3, Richardson 3.
3-pt. goals – Rounaghi 3, Burzell 2, Wulff 2, McMurray 1, Richardson 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
NH – Blaine 15, Harding 14, Stassel 13, Phillips 13, Pipkin 7, Sweis 6, Frye 4, Delgadillo 2.
3-pt. goals – Blaine 3, Harding 2, Stassel 2, Sweis 2, Pipkin 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
