Basketball: First annual NH alumni tournament a success
Tony Altobelli
NEWPORT BEACH - Former Newport Harbor High basketball standout
Justin McIntee summed it up best for the 48 other participants of the
first annual Newport Harbor Alumni Basketball Tournament.
“I’m very tired,” he said.
With ice packs at the ready and Ben Gay on deck, the alumni, which
spanned three decades of Sailor basketball put on quite a show for those
in attendance and, according to Tournament Director and Class of 1973
alum Jamie Holmes, this is only the beginning.
“Overall, I’m extremely pleased with how things turned out today,”
Holmes said. “I was very happy with the quality of basketball these guys
put on. It was hard played, but there was nothing personal. Everyone had
a great time.”
Sailors’ Coach Larry Hirst, disguised as a referee for the tournament,
sees this as a great way to bridge the gap between current and former
players.
“It builds support,” Hirst said. “It’s great seeing guys step on to
this court for the first time and seeing former teammates hugging and
reliving old times. We’ve still got some bugs to work out, but overall,
it went very well.”
It was a 90s clash in the tournament final, with Team No. 5,
consisting of Eddie Martinez (‘90), Eric Vallely (‘94), McIntee (‘92),
Paige Parrish (‘90), Bruce Louvier (‘78) and Mark Lanier pulling out a
49-37 win over Team No. 6.
The runner-ups consisted of Mark McAnlis (‘93), Jay Tufano (‘93), Todd
Jameson (‘93), Bob Torribio (‘95), Wade Tift (‘94), Ryan Anderson (‘93)
and Matt Schutz (‘93).
Despite the loss in the final, it was Team No. 6 with the comeback of
the tournament in the semifinal. Trailing, 24-12 with less than two
minutes remaining, a feverish rally was capped off with a steal and
desperation three-pointer at the buzzer by Schutz.
“I was inspired by Larry Bird for a brief minute,” Schutz said. “I
have the feeling some of my teammates were sort of not happy I made that
hoop, because that meant we had to play again. I had a great time here
and I’m looking forward to next year.”
A goal for next year is for the winning team from the NH Tournament to
take on the winning team from Corona del Mar’s Jack Errion Memorial
Tournament.
“We tried to pull that off this year, but we were still trying to get
this tournament off the ground,” Holmes said. “Hopefully, next year we
can get together with those guys and have a tourney vs. tourney final
game. That would be great.”
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