Boys basketball: Tars lose safety net

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - There will be no Sea View League co-championship

for the Newport Harbor High boys basketball team. This year’s quest for

the program’s first league crown in a dozen years will come down to all

or nothing Wednesday night at league co-leader Woodbridge High, after

Laguna Hills took a 49-45 victory from the host Sailors Friday night.

“We just made our lives a lot more difficult,” Newport Coach Larry

Hirst said after Coach Dave Brown’s Hawks (12-12, 3-3 in league)

outworked, outexecuted and outlasted the Sailors (18-6, 6-1) to keep them

from clinching at least a share of the Sea View top spot.

“That is what you kind of expect from a Dave Brown team,” said Hirst,

who began dueling the 33-year head coach (the first 20 at Fountain Valley

High), when Hirst played against Brown’s Barons as an Edison High player.

“They make every possession count and they do what they do very well,”

Hirst said of the Hawks, who appeared bent on avenging a 43-40

first-round home loss to the Tars, during which they led all but the

first and last moments.

“We led most of the first game (against Newport) and I think our kids

really wanted this one,” Brown said. “We executed well and worked hard.

Their pressure started getting to us a little in the fourth quarter, but

we were able to hold on. This is a great win.”

It’s win No. 525 in Brown’s illustrious prep career, which will end

this season, when he retires and moves to Portland, Ore.

The hosts appeared determined to take some pressure off the Woodbridge

meeting when they answered Laguna Hills’ first basket of the game with an

11-0 run that included three-pointers by 6-foot-6 senior Tony Melum and

senior point guard Eric Perrine.

But when Melum went to the bench with two fouls with 2:03 left in the

first quarter, the Hawks scored the final seven points of what was a 10-0

blitz to end the period.

By the time Melum returned with 4:22 left before halftime, Laguna

Hills led, 21-14. With Harbor going 8:02 without a field goal -- until a

Melum layup with 2:53 left in the first half -- the visitors wound up

with a 29-20 halftime edge.

The lead did not shrink in the third quarter and a baseline drive and

layin by Matt Donat put the Hawks up, 41-30 with 7:36 to play.

Melum canned four straight free throws, the second of which courtesy

of a Laguna Hills technical foul, and after the second of Melum’s two

fourth-quarter three-pointers, the Tars had cut it to 46-42 with 3:08

left.

A Perrine steal and layin halved that deficit with 2:46 remaining and

a Melum free throw put the Tars within 46-45 with 2:02 left.

As both defenses buckled down, Harbor finally produced a quality

scoring chance with 66 seconds left. But the wide-open layup attempt came

up short and the visitors rebounded.

Harbor missed a baseline jumper and an open three-pointer to take the

lead in the final minute and Laguna Hills senior Marc Dimick hit two free

throws with one second left to ice the win.

Melum had 20 points and nine rebounds, while Perrine added 12 points.

“I would have liked to have gone into the Woodbridge game with a

no-lose situation, Hirst said. “But now we’re in the same old grind. It

seems we took one step forward, now two steps back.”

BOYS

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Laguna Hills 49, Newport Harbor 45

Score by Quarters

Laguna Hills 14 15 10 10 - 49

Newport Harbor 11 9 10 15 - 45

Laguna Hills - Donat 17, Dimick 14, Stone 5, Stelling 2, Vollenhalls

0, Carter 11.

3-pt. goals - Carter 2, Dimick 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - Vollenhalls 1.

Newport Harbor - Melum 20, Peterson 7, Pajevic 4, Perrine 12, Cameron

2, Diefenbach 0, Pinesett 0, Rorden 0.

3-pt. goals - Melum 3, Perrine 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.