Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: Greg Perrine

Barry Faulkner

Impressive, cool and largely unaffected, Newport Harbor High senior

Greg Perrine blended well with his surroundings when the Sailors boys

basketball team ventured to Alaska last week.

The 6-foot-1 point guard, who worked tirelessly to recover from a torn

ACL that required July 31 reconstructive surgery and sidelined him for

the first seven games, scored 43 points in three games, including a

season-high 17 in a semifinal loss.

Perrine’s performance, which helped the Tars finish third, earned him

all-tournament recognition. It also earned him Daily Pilot Athlete of the

Week honors.

More importantly, it signaled a return to consistency, after weeks of

readjustment, heading into Wednesday’s Sea View League opener at Aliso

Niguel.

“I think he’s about 85% of where he was before the injury and he gets

a couple percentage points better each game,” said Newport Harbor Coach

Larry Hirst, who is relieved to have his floor leader back for the

Sailors’ Sea View title quest.

“More than his scoring (in Alaska), there was a play when he made a

steal near the sideline and he had to jump off his (right) injured leg to

save the ball. He did it without hesitation and I looked at my coaches on

the bench and I think we all thought ‘OK, he’s back.’ ”

Perrine scored 14 points in his first game back Dec. 12, a nonleague

home win over Edison. He also compiled six assists, three steals, three

rebounds and one blocked shot. But, the encouraging debut soon gave way

to uncertainty as his body reacted to the rigor of competing at full

speed.

“He was sore in muscles he didn’t even know he had,” Hirst said.

Perrine scored 12 points combined the next six games, all the while

approaching the mental and physical fitness he had before the injury.

Both elements presented extreme challenges.

“The hardest thing about coming back was the mental aspect of knowing

I could do things again that I used to do,” Perrine said. “I was very

tentative jumping off of and landing on my right leg.”

Perrine said shuffling, knees bent in his defense stance, was also

initially awkward, but he believes he is close to 90% of the player he

was.

“The doctors said (recovery) would take four to six months,” Perrine

said. “I came back in a little more than four, but it’s a little more

than five months right now.”

The return of Perrine’s scoring touch is a welcome sight, though

Hirst’s appreciation for his returning second-team all-league performer

has always transcended the box score.

“He does all the obvious things, like running our offense, shooting

and passing,” Hirst said. “But he also does all the intangibles that you

can only appreciate if you really follow basketball. He’s usually our

second-leading rebounder, our second-best defender and he just gives a

calm to everything we do.”

The latter reference includes his unspoken extension of what Hirst

wants from his team in key situations.

“(Perrine) just always know where I want to go and what I want to do

on the court,” Hirst said. “He not only knows which plays I want to run,

but he knows the percentages on where to go with the ball. He’s going to

get us the highest percentage to be successful on any given play.”

Hard-nosed determination, readily apparent when Perrine protects the

ball, attacks the basket or sinks a crucial free throw late in the game,

was a key to his successful rehabilitation.

“I went to rehab three times a week for four months and I think I

missed one appointment,” Perrine said. “There were people around me who

were really down after I got hurt, but I always tried to stay positive.

Coming back and playing really motivated me. When I would have to sit and

watch my teammates practice and play games, it really motivated me to go

work as hard as I could to try to get back on the court.”

Perrine said the Alaska tournament has given him the confidence he has

lacked.

“I think I can go out and play and do everything I used to do.”