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.”