Boys basketball: King George watches Sailors win

Tony Altobelli

NEWPORT BEACH -

With “King George” in attendance, the Newport Harbor High boys

basketball team knocked off La Sierra, 70-67, in the George Yardley

Summer Cage Classic Friday night.

“It was an exciting game to watch,” Yardley said after watching his

alma mater come out on top. “This is probably the first high school

basketball game I’ve seen in person since I was actually playing.”

Considering prep hoops doesn’t officially kick off for several months,

the host Sailors put on quite a good show against a tough Riverside-based

high school.

“I was pleased with how we kept our composure and how we worked our

halfcourt sets,” Sailors Coach Larry Hirst said. “This time of year, you

try to work on everything; from team defense to execution all the way

down to basic footwork.”

Tony Melum led the Sailors with 21 points and seven rebounds, while

Aaron Yarnal added 19 points, including three three-pointers.

“We went to Tony a lot down the stretch because I thought it would be

tough to get the ball to Aaron,” Hirst said.

Newport managed to negate two strong performances from La Sierra’s

Everet Rincon and Marcus Smith, who each scored 25 points.

Greg Perrine scored 13 points, including two big three-pointers that

helped keep the momentum on the side of the Sailors. Jordan Spigner added

10 points.

“We’re just trying all sorts of new things out,” Hirst said. “We’ve

got a bunch of young guys and we’re trying to find the most cohesive

unit.”

With the win, Newport will play Trabuco Hills today in the

quarterfinals at 2 p.m. at Newport, and a victory would send them to the

semifinals at 6:30 tonight.

As for Yardley, he was impressed with the high-quality style of play

that’s played at the high school level.

“Seriously, these kids are playing as good a game as I was playing at

the professional level,” the NBA Hall of Famer said. “It’s a much

different game. When I was playing, it was a lot of one-on-one, but now

with the defenses collapsing and helping out, it’s a much bigger and

better game. The court seems so small for these kids nowadays. I would

hate to be a coach.”