Boys basketball: Newport takes care of Edison

Tony Altobelli

HUNTINGTON BEACH - In the case of the Newport Harbor High boys

basketball team, practice didn’t make perfect, but it sure helped a heck

of a lot in Tuesday’s 74-63 nonleague win over host Edison.

A much-needed day in the Sailors’ gym on Monday after a healthy

helping of tournament action helped Newport fix the silly mistakes and

lack of intensity that contributed to back-to-back losses at last

weekend’s Anaheim Convention Center Holiday Classic.

“Sometimes it’s easier to learn out on the gym in practice than on a

chalkboard during a game,” Newport Coach Larry Hirst said. “We worked on

a lot of little things during that practice and it helped get everyone on

the same page.”

The Sailors (9-3) were led on offense by the trio of Aaron Yarnal,

Greg Perrine and Tony Melum. The threesome combined to score 68 of the

Sailors’ 74 points.

It was Melum who helped guide Newport’s offense early, scoring 19 of

his 23 points in the first half.

“Tony was being Tony tonight,” Hirst said. “He was doing a much better

job of finishing his shots. I think it just came down to him

concentrating more on each play.”

The Chargers (3-7), coached by former Estancia skipper Rich Boyce,

were led by Christian Prelle and Kyoung Su Kim, who each had 21 points.

“Edison has some shooters and when you play a team with shooters in

their gym, they’re going to be more comfortable and they’ll be tough to

stop,” Hirst said.

That combo kept Edison in the game early as Newport’s offense picked

apart the Chargers’ defense to the tune of 22 first-quarter points.

Newport’s lead remained small until an 8-2 run late in the second

quarter gave the Sailors a 10-point advantage.

The lead stretched to 12 before Edison’s scoring duo of Kim and Prelle

cut the lead in half with a 6-0 run of their own.

Yarnal helped stem the Edison charge with a three-pointer and a basket

at the buzzer, stretching Newport’s lead back up to nine after three

quarters.

It was Perrine’s turn to pick up the offense with strong work in the

paint, scoring eight of his 21 points in the final quarter.

“Perrine’s absolutely killing us out there,” Boyce announced to his

coaching staff and to whoever else was in earshot.

Edison cut the lead to seven and had the ball with 4:55 remaining in

the game, but a a Melum basket and four straight points from Yarnal (24

in the game) ballooned the lead back up to 13 and cruised from there.

Newport will now travel to the Pacific Northwest for the Shorewood

Invitational in Seattle, Wash.

“It’ll be cold up there, but it should be a lot of fun,” Hirst said.

“They don’t have a shot clock up there, so we’ll just have to learn to

play a different style up there. It should be interesting.”

NONLEAGUE

Newport Harbor 74, Edison 63

Newport Harbor 22 20 18 14

Edison 16 19 16 12

Newport - Cameron 3, Perrine 21, Young 2, Yarnal 24, Pajevic 1, Melum

23, Peterson 0, Spigner 0, Diefenbach 0.

3 pt. goals - Yarnal 2, Melum 2, Cameron 1, Perrine 1.

Fouled out - None.

Edison - Roquemore 7, Prelle 21, Schwartz 6, Gonzales 5, Min 21, Braun

3.

3 pt. goals - Prelle 2, Roquemore 1, Braun 1, Min 1, Gonzales 1.

Fouled out - None.