Good for what ails them

Joseph Boo

NEWPORT BEACH - Newport Harbor High’s boys basketball team needed

something to wash away the bitter aftertaste from Tuesday’s loss to

Fountain Valley. Huntington Beach was more than willing to comply.

The Sailors outscored the visiting Oilers, 51-21, in the second half in

an 81-41 nonleague victory Wednesday night.

“They were a little upset with themselves from (the Fountain Valley)

game,” Newport Harbor Coach Larry Hirst said about his players. “We

didn’t play well in three of our last four games.”

Hirst said the coaches had little to say to the players during the

Huntington Beach game. Instead, the Sailors (6-4) responded with defense.

Huntington Beach (1-10) shot 32% from the floor, harassed constantly by

Newport’s defense.

“Our defense picked it up a notch in this one,” Hirst said.

After a relatively slight struggle in the first half, Newport was up,

30-20. The Sailors then used a 17-1 run in the third quarter to remove

any doubt.

Aaron Yarnal led Newport with 19 points, and Dustin Illingworth scored

15, and had eight rebounds. The trio of Newport starting guards, Justin

Reynolds, Greg Perrine and Jordan Spigner, controlled the game tempo. Off

the bench for the Sailors, Tony Melum scored 12, and also got eight

rebounds.

Newport’s reserves played just as well as the starters, finishing with a

23-4 run, with Marc Staudenmann scoring seven points in the final two

minutes.

Newport got the great performance it was looking for, especially after

Tuesday’s game, when Fountain Valley came back to win, 48-45.

“This is still a preseason game,” Hirst said about the win over

Huntington Beach. “This was a game to see how we reacted from that loss

and to see who steps up.”

And on Wednesday, the Sailors took one big step to being on the right

track.

Nonleague

Newport Harbor 81, Huntington Beach 41

Score by Quarters

Huntington Beach 9 11 9 12 - 41 Newport Harbor 14 16 20 31 - 81

Huntington Beach - Allen 12, Sanders 9, Janovick 2, DeHart 2, Needham 0,

Kubelka 2, Konstantindis 0, Mackey 0, Ventiniglia 6, Harrison 0, Cazares

2, Duquette 2, Mio 2, Banzon 2.

3-pt. goals - Sanders 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Newport Harbor - Yarnal 19, Illingworth 15, Perrine 6, Rorden 6, Reynolds

5, Murray 0, Knutti 2, Spigner 4, Melum 12, Staudenmann 7, Martin 2,

Redoutey 0, Cook 3, Ready 0.

3-pt. goals - Rorden 2, Yarnal 1, Cook 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.